The Billionaire Scientist & His New Secretary
by Sparrow
Summary: Modern DN. Numair is a billionaire scientist, whose new secretary is Daine. She's about to learn that he mixes business with pleasure. Enter... possible love rival?
1. Prologue

**BILLIONAIRE SCIENTIST & HIS NEW SECRETARY**

**PROLOGUE **

_The idea of Tortall in a modern context is taken unabashedly and admiringly from the fic "Modern". The fic that no doubt, started a different kind of genre of Tortall fan fiction. _

_I just decided to take the idea and go overboard with fluffiness with a sprinkle of plot... as shown with my extremely corny title... _

_Italics between ' ' are thoughts. So... 'I am thinking, think think think! These words are thoughts in my head... HUA HUA HUA' _

_This fic, is of course, set in a modern era, as in, now now the present. In a country, I do not care to specify, except take it that it has a westernised culture. High Society is a magazine something like the Tattler... _

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_**HIGH SOCIETY: GOSSIP COLUMN**_

_Dear Readers,_

_TortallInc is officially now one of the hottest new places to work at! All you single women out there better brush up your secretarial skills for hunky Numair Salmalin is out looking for a secretary! This particular secretarial post was evacuated when Numair recently fired his secretary for interupting one of his experiments. _

_I admit, dear readers, that this column is not a job advertising section, but with Numair Salmalin involved, this makes the news instant juicy gossip tidbit! Numair Salmalin is more famously known for being the driving brain and mind behind Tortall Inc. His numerous inventions had made Tortall Inc the multi-national conglomerate it is today. (Not forgetting the hard work of gorgeous CEO Jonathan Conte as well)_

_This humble writer wonders what qualities Numair Salmalin would look for in his new secretary. If he mixes business with pleasure, it is no doubt his secretary would have to be well-groomed, blonde and voluptous. _

_However! It is notorious that Numair tends to be lost in his own world when he works. So no matter how much an eye candy his secretary may be, she must be organised and efficient. Helping him keep track of the numerous social and work appointments he has. (One wonders if she would help him keep track of his paramours as well.)_

_Ah dear readers... We send our heartiest congratulations to the lucky woman who gets the post! Be assured that this hardworking writer will update you on any new scintillating information._

_XXX Lady Dove_

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"Odd's bobs!" a young woman of 24 years old exclaimed, after she had finished reading the Gossip Column. "And to think that's the man _I_ am going to have to work for!"

_'Now I wish I didn't bother to read the column that Miri had shoved into my hands before I left for my first day of work,'_ the woman sighed, pushing a strand of her smoky brown hair behind her ear. Her blue-grey eyes blinked nervously through her chunky black-rimmed spectacles.

She clutched her bag and took a deep breath, thinking, _'Onua from the HR Department would not have hired me as Mr Salmalin's secretary if she didn't think I was competent. Besides, this is an excellent work opportunity and I can't go back to where I came from... I'm lucky Onua didn't find out about my past... Nobody would ever hire me if they did...'_

Veralidaine Sarrasri quickly pushed the looming dark thoughts aside and pushed open the doors of Tortall Inc.

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_Hope you liked it. Perhaps more to come, see how. I still have "What If" to finish. I admit, I'm losing inspiration or drive to write or complete the fics. Simply because TP, in my own personal opinion, went a bit downhill with her new books and I feel less inspired to write... I look at her future books and know I'm not going to be reading much of her works in the future... Haiz... BUT... Her Trickster's Series does show new hope and HOORRAYYYY, D & N finally gets hitched! applauds_


	2. Chapter 1 Part 1

**BILLIONAIRE SCIENTIST & HIS NEW SECRETARY**

**CHAPTER 1 PART 1**

_A big thank you to all the reviewers! Without them, I wouldn't be able to guage the viaibility of continuing the fic. _

_By the way, assume that all characters are single/unmarried, unless I specify... Yes... there might be a bit of Jonathan-Alanna-George triangle thing..._

_I find it wierd to call each bit I upload as chapters, so I would revert to Chp1:1. Which means chapter 1, part 1. Thus, Chp 3:5, is chapter 3 part 5. Yes, I think the fic will run on quite a bit. If I have the will to finish the fic!_

_Happy reading!_

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_**HIGH SOCIETY: GOSSIP COLUMN **_

_Dear Readers,_

_For your overwhelming enthusiastic response to our first on-line poll on what qualities Numair's new secretary should possess, I thank you readers! I was astounded that more than 384,000 people took part! It seems that great minds think alike and the results of the top 5 qualities have been quite clear cut... But then again, fools barely differ..._

_Top 5 Qualities Numair's new Secretary should possess..._

_1. Voluptous figure_

_2. Blonde hair_

_3. Well-groomed_

_4. Well-versed with men_

_5. single (unmarried) _

_Look out for more juicy social information when the next issue of _High Society_ goes on sale._

_XX Lady Dove _

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_Tortall Inc. Buildings, HR Executive Office..._

A red head snorted and tossed High Society magazine onto the papers that Onua was reading on her desk.

Onua looked up, raised an eyebrow and said, "Some people do have to work here in order to keep their jobs you know..." She picked up the magazine and swatted at the red-head who was sitting on the edge of her desk. "Not like some people who has nothing to do all day but to go sniffing at other people's offices..."

The short red-head raised her hands up and protested, "Hey hey! I am the Head of Internal Security you know! Without me, our company wouldn't be anything if all the secrets were leaked out to our competitors! I do more than just sniff at other people's office! I do background checks, put my ear to the ground to see if anything crops up..."

"Alright Alanna, you made your point," Onua interupted, before the red head could become more worked up.

"It's not that I like this sort of sit-in-the-office kind of work! If it was me, I would be out doing Raoul's work, bashing up troublemakers! That Jonathan! Why did he have to appoint me "internal" security and Raoul as "external" security?" Alanna exclaimed.

"Maybe it could be that your hot temper might run you into bashing more heads than necessary?" Onua suggested warily. "Or maybe he was trying to protect you..."

Alanna glared her famous purple eyes at Onua. "Protect me? Oh please, next you are going to suggest that he's interested in me or something!"

Onua raised an eyebrow, but knew when to back off. She had eyes and knew that the blue eyed CEO took more than a professional interest in Alanna. Onua cleared her throat and glanced at the magazine that Alanna was reading. "The High Society magazine, I never figured that you were one to read gossip..."

"Blah!" Alanna retorted, "If it wasn't for my job, I wouldn't be looking at this sort of trash. But as you know, where there's smoke, there's normally fire. Lady Dove is amazingly accurate with her gossip. Last time, thanks to her tidbits, I got wind that one of our dear managers was squirreling money away for his lovebird at the Bahamas. But!" Alanna tilted her head. "It seems that she, as well as the rest of the world, is wrong on this point."

"What point?" Onua asked.

"Numair's secretary!" Alanna exclaimed, jabbing the article with her finger. "I mean, the new girl you hired! She seems to be everything **except** what most people would expect from Numair's secretary!"

"Oh give the girl a chance," Onua said patiently. "I on the other hand, think she has all the right qualities that Numair's secretaries need."

Curiousity blazed in Alanna, who immelediately asked, "And what exactly are those qualities?... Why did you decide to hire Miss Sarrasri although she does not seem have a lot of experience in secretarial work?"

"Onua," a male voice interupted from the loudspeaker on Onua's telephone. "Miss Veralidaine Sarrasri is here to speak to you."

Onua leaned over and pressed the loudspeaker button, "Thank you Evin, please show her in and bring us some refreshments." She let go of the button and looked at Alanna, "And you, please show some decorum and go sit in a chair. Just because you are the head of internal security and have to be there to assess all new employees doesn't mean that you can be rude. Now shoo!"

Alanna snorted, but obediently sat in one of the plush chairs in front of Onua's desk. She positioned herself such that she could see the door quite clearly, such that she had time to look over the new girl before she had a chance to see Alanna. Of course, her back was naturally to the wall. A habit that carried on after her exclusive training at the top security schools.

A young woman opened the door. Her wavy brown hair was pinned severely back, and her eyes were hidden behind black framed plastic spectacles. Her lips were soft, but her stubborn chin showed determination. She was dressed in a simple blouse, skirt and pumps that looked well-worn.

Onua welcomed the newcomer and introduced Daine to Alanna. Startled blue-grey eyes met purple eyes. '_Ahh..._' Alanna thought. '_So her eyes are blue-grey. If she ditched those glasses, she would probably look better. In fact, she seems to be dressed to hide or downplay whatever beauty she might possibly possess. Such senisible, but ugly clothes... Perhaps she could not afford better..._'

"Hello!" Alanna smiled, and shook Daine's hand, thinking, '_Hmm... soft hands, but calloused, probably did hard labour previously_. _She seems to be trembling... is she scared of me? or is she scared of my post or its implications? Hmm..._'

"Welcome to Tortall Inc, Miss Sarrasri" Onua smiled, after they had settled down. "I shall spare you the boring history lesson of our company, details of which can be found in your orientation booklet. You can also find the structure of our organisation, contact details, emergency plans, etc in your booklet. You will receive your pay every last week of the month."

Onua nodded to Alanna who handed Daine a package. Alanna said, "In here, is your security card. Being Numair's secretary, you are given special access to the building. To put it simply, you can go where he goes. I am against this, as it allows you too much freedom around the building, but," Alanna nodded to Onua, "as I understand, much of your job entails you chasing him around and browbeating him to attend the necessary functions. And if he hides in somewhere you can't access, you can't do your job properly."

Alanna leaned in and said, "I will be monitoring your movements, make no doubts about it. Use the card wisely, and don't abuse it."

Daine nodded her head vigorously and cleared her throat, "Um, Miss Cham..."

"Onua," Onua interupted, "You can call me Onua."

"Well, Mis-I mean, Onua, what duties do I have to do as Mr Salmalin's secretary?" Daine asked nervously, clutching her bag.

"I expect that you will probably learn more on the job. There are no exact fixed duties, except do what Numair asks you to do, within reason of course," Onua said. "Numair is passionate about his work, often, when he is caught up in a new discovery, he can go for days without proper meals, just holed up in his lab, neglecting the world. He tends to miss numerous appointments, meetings, even press conferences when he is onto something new. Thus, the one and most important duty that you have as his secretary is to take care of him. Manage his calender and make sure he attends his appointments. Ensure that he doesn't starve himself..."

"In other words, be Numair's babysitter," Alanna retorted.

Onua shot Alanna killer glare and continued, "Help him with whatever paperwork he asks you to do. Like working together with our in-house counsel to deal with paperwork regarding patents, copyrights, etc."

Daine felt overwhelmed by this, and she thought, _'But I thought the last secretary was fired because she interrupted him in one of his experiments!'_ However, she nodded with a weak smile.

As soon as Diane left the office, Alanna turned to Onua and said, "Come on, spill it! I can't spot the right quality she has that would make her a good secretary to Numair! I mean, she's not particularly crafty or able to trick Numair into doing things, nor does she seem the type who will whine or cajole him into submission. Sheesh! She's defintely not Numair's type, so I can't imagine her using her charms to make him do what she wants!"

Onua raised her eyebrows. "Really Alanna, sometimes the solution is not the most obvious one."

Alanna impatiently threw a cushion at Onua who neatly caught it. "Alright already," Alanna protested. "Take pity on me and tell me!" She grumbled to herself, "I already lost $10 to Raoul that you didn't hire that blonde who used to be a playboy playmate."

Onua grinned and replied, "When you look at Daine, what is the first impression you have?"

Alanna rolled her eyes, "She looks, young, sweet, innocent. Perhaps even naive... Very country girl comes to city, I can imagine all the wolves in the city licking their chops, ready to fleece or cheat her. But, she looks like she's been through hard times, probably needs this job."

"Exactly," Onua said and leaned forward in her chair. "Numair was the first person who befriended me when I didn't know anyone. I have known him for quite some time and I can tell you this. He is a nice guy and will never, ever be outright mean or cruel."

"Yada yada yada, so nominate him for a nobel peace price already," Alanna interrupted. "Get to the point."

"That is my point. Numair had perfectly no qualms not listening to the previous secretaries because they were mature women, able to whine, cajole, charm their way around. He's too experienced to fall for their tactics. They can take care of themselves and he had perfectly no qualms in firing them because they will very easily fall back on their feet. But for Daine, her innocence and vulnerability are probably the best qualities to control him."

"What!" Alanna erupted. "Like a babe toying with a wolf?"

"More of, a lion who picks up a starving puppy in the jungle. He knows if he doesn't keep the puppy with him, the puppy will just get eaten up by the next animal that comes along,"Onua rested her chin on her hand and continued, "Numair won't have the heart to fire her. She looks like she needs the job and her qualifications are not good enough to get her another such cushiony job. _Most _importantly, he wouldn't want to be the reason for her being fired. So he'll play along a bit so that _we_ won't fire her ourselves."

"Hmm..." Alannna pondered. "Well, to a certain extent, it does make sense... But I'm really not too sure it'll work. You should know he's like a different person when he's engrossed in his work."

"Humph," Onua snorted. "Trust me, whatever it is. He's innately a good person. He won't make life too difficult for her." '_I hope!_' she thought and crossed her fingers.

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	3. Chapter 1 Part 2

**BILLIONAIRE SCIENTIST & HIS NEW SECRETARY**

**CHAPTER 1**

**PART 2**

_Yes, I fully acknowledge that I'm slack in updating... now busy with school, got an incredible amount of readings to do... so I do thank you for your kind patience! _

_I'm increasing the rating of the fic. I realise that with Numair and his rather active "social" life, harsh office life, and more serious issues, I better up the rating._

**IMPORTANT NOTE: **

_Thank you to all reviewers! I'm seriously only continuing to write this because of you reviewers. so pat on the back. _

**Thus, I'll only continue on with the story if I can get more than 10 reviews for each part I update. **

_So please do review IF you want me to continue. This is so that I know whether the fic is worth continuing or not. hee hee. I mean, if the story sux then I'll move on to something else and save some webspace. _

_Oceanstorm: Good point, will take note of it. Thanks! _

**DISCLAIMER**

_Tamora Pierce owns the Tortallan characters. This story is entirely fictious. No, Numair did not invent the things I said... but if he did, you understand why he's a billionaire already... _

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"Hmph!" Selda muttered, tossing her copy of _High Society _onto her desk, striding angrily towards the staff pantry. The office staff quickly moved out of the way as her 5-inch _Jimmy choo _heels clicked indignantly on the marble floor. They lowered their eyes, not willing to accidentally catch her gaze and incur her wrath. An unfortunate office assistant was holding a stack of files and did not see Selda's angry progress along the floor. Selda pushed past her, causing her to lose her balance and cause the files crashing on the floor.

Selda spun irritatedly on her heels, glared at the OA and snapped "Are you blind? Watch where you are going?"

The OA gritted her teeth while she started to pick up the files.

Selda snorted, tapping her heel impatiently. Her legs were barely encased in a _gucci_ short pencil-shaped skirt and her figure was amply displayed in a tight-fitting shirt. "Well?" Selda demanded. "Aren't you going to apologise? Such an incompetent fool, no manners, can't see straight? How the hell did you get hired here in the first place?"

The OA lurched to her feet angrily, "Why you-"

Suddenly, Selda went on her knees and started picking up the files. "What is going on here?" Farant asked, walking up to them in his tailored suit. He was the manager under the Public Relations Department.

Selda looked up at him, blinking her eyes, as if trying to compose herself, "She bumped into me and when I tried to apologise, she just dumped the files on the ground and told me to pick it up."

The OA gaped in shock, speechless at Selda's lie.

Farant frowned, "What is this? This is completely unacceptable! I cannot tolerate this kind of behaviour in the office." He turned to the OA. "I am very disappointed in you. I hired you despite your lack of experience, because you showed enthusiasm and would fit well into the office. It is utterly shocking that you would show such unprofessional conduct, especially to a senior and treasured employee!"

"But.. but I..." the OA stuttered. Nobody around her dared to speak in her defence, not willing to call Selda's vengeance on their heads.

"Oh, no Farant," Selda interrupted tearfully. "Please don't scold her on my account. She's new here, just give her another chance."

Farant softened when he looked at Selda, "Alright then. You better apologise to Selda for your outrageous behaviour. If I catch you engaging in such conduct again, your services will be terminated."

The OA shook in anger, but was helpless. On one hand, if she apologised, she would be admitting that she did such a thing, on the other hand, if she was to protest, she would seem defensive, even worse, that she was not admitting her mistake. In a battle of "who spoke the truth", Farant would more likely favour Selda to her, the new OA.

"I am sorry, I will make sure that I will not bother you in any way again," the OA barely spit out.

Farant frowned, but Selda quickly said, "That's alright! We're all friends here."

"Oh Selda, you're simply too nice," Farant said. "You shouldn't let others bully you. Make sure you tell me if you are being mistreated... Really, I am shocked that they would do anything to you as a senior employee here."

Selda conjured up a blush, "You are too kind sir!"

"Now now, we are on first name basis here," Farant said kindly, then looked at his watch. "Alright, I'll see you around then."

"Yes... Farant," Selda said coyly as he walked away.

Her whole demeanour underwent a 180 degree change as he disappeared into his office. Selda glared at the OA. "I can't believe he didn't fire you. You have Farant to thank for you still having a job!"

The OA gaped, thinking '_Didn't Selda ask Farant not to fire me!'_

Selda got onto her feet and angrily kicked the files, scattering them all over the floor. She then continued her progress to the pantry.

She suddenly smiled, "Hello Evin!"

Evin walked out of the pantry with Daine, he looked at Selda, "Good morning."

"And who is this?" Selda asked pleasantly.

"This is Veralidaine Sarrasri, who is Numair's new secretary, I am just showing her around," Evin said equally pleasantly.

The whole office went silent.

Selda stared at Daine, and laughed rather falsely, "Oh my, I didn't know the position of Numair's secretary has been filled. My, my, she must have many hidden talents because she doesn't look like she's up to the job."

Daine blinked, she didn't quite like that backhanded compliment.

Evin smiled, baring his teeth,"Well, Daine was hired by the top brass. Onua the HR head thought that she was the most appropriate for the job. Everyone recognises Onua's competence and expertise, since she first joined the company many years ago. It would be a question of Onua's expertise if Daine is not able to handle the job admirably. In fact, I scarcely think anyone, even our dear CEO and Numair, would question Onua's qualifications, but would look to other factors if Daine didn't handle the job properly." he laughed. "Oh you know, the previous secretaries, even _Numair himself_ admitted that it was his fault and not of Onua's."

Selda smiled, rather painfully. "Well then, see you around Daine."

Evin took Daine by the arm and led her away from the maze of cubicles and offices. Daine blinked in confusion, "What was that about?"

"Selda there," Evin whispered, walking along the floor. "is the queen bee of the office or to put it more crudely, the office bitch. Very ambitious. Thinks the means justify the ends. It's no secret that most people think that Selda got where she is by office politics than by her competency."

Daine nodded, thinking _'ARGH! I hate this office politics crap_!' and asked, "but... we only just met... she seemed... unfriendly..."

"Ha!" Evin said. "Everyone knows that she wants to climb out of the normal secretarial ranks and go to the top 10."

"Top 10?" Daine queried.

Evin stopped in front of what looked like a lift lobby. It was black and elegant. Fresh flowers adorned each side of the lift door. There were four security guards in the lobby who nodded at Evin. "Yep, the big bosses are on the top 10 floors of this building. All us underlings are on the lower floors. It's unfortunate, but true saying in our company that the floor that we are on indicate our level of importance."

Daine looked around for the lift buttons. "Um... is there some button I should press?"

Evin grinned. "Now, take your pass and place it in front of here," Evin indicated a sleek black panel in front of the elevators. Daine meekly did as he instructed. "A green light will flash, ah, yes, there it is, and this panel will slide away to reveal the magic button. Just press it. All areas with restricted access are like this. Very James Bond, ain't it? It's bullet proof too. If the red light flashes, it means that you have no access. I MUST warn you... if you try three times unsuccessfully, the lobby or area will immediately lock down and you will be trapped here until security bails you out. This will also happen if you try to fiddle with the wiring or whatever. This is to prevent sabotage or people from trying to be funny and break in... You can thank Alanna for that little trick. But it definitely reduced the number of people trying to break into security and go see the top bosses."

Daine nodded, suitably impressed at the level of security.

"You don't need to worry horribly about it, since i think your pass gets you almost anywhere," Evin continued, "Anyway, Selda applied for your position, but didn't get it. I think she's aiming to be the next Ms. Salmalin."

Daine blinked, "Oh dear..."

Evin nodded. "Just try to be cautious although you are quite far away from her. She has her fingers in everything. She's office smart. When she came in, she made it such that, a lot of thing can't be done without her. She has exclusive knowledge of quite a lot of things. Making her indispensable and hard for us to throw her out although us underlings want to revolt."

"But... she seemed quite nice to you," Daine said, rather confused.

Evin tapped her gently on her head, "That's because my dear, she knows who she can bully, who she should suck up to and who she should not bully. I'm in HR. We control the hiring, renewing, firing of people. As well as pay. She knows that she shouldn't mess with us. Besides, our promotions have no bearing on her and we have _everything_ to do with any of _her_ promotions."

Daine blinked.

Evin smiled at her, "don't worry too much. I just now warned her off you."

"You did?" Daine gaped.

"oh my dear lambkin! you have much to learn in the ways of the world, tsk tsk!" Evin admonished jokingly, waving her index finger. "I basically implied to her that if she does something to you to make you lose your job, people will wonder why since it was Onua the head of HR who hired you. And Onua is good friends with the big bosses. So Ouna AND the big bosses will pay attention as to why you quit or got fired."

The lift door finally opened and Evin went in, with Daine trailing after. Daine gaped at the interior of the lift. The floor was carpeted and cushioned benches lined the three walls and a flat screen tv was on the left wall, showing the latest stock figures. A big vase of flowers stood in the right corner.

"Come in, come in," Evin ushered. Daine followed him in. He pointed to a familiar looking black panel and said ,"You know the drill."

She waved her card in front of the panel that obediently flashed the green light and slid away. Surprisingly, three different panels of buttons appeared. "This panel is to the offices, this is to the labatories, this is to the residences."

"Residences?" Daine gaped.

"Yup! Our hardworking top bosses have an apartment here to bunk if they work overnight or something. People like our CEO actually stays elsewhere, but for Numair, he lives here." Evin explained. "Normally, most people can only access one panel, but for your case, you can access all three since it's Numair who has full run of the place."

Daine nodded.

Evin pointed at the buttons, "Now, even if you can access the panel, sometimes, you can only press certain buttons. You see here, there is this column of buttons. Next to each button is a small screen. It only lights up with the floor number if you are able to access it."

Daine nodded.

"Since you have access to almost everything, you can see almost all the buttons." Evin said and pressed a button. "This floor is Numair's office. You have to remember all the floors and what they are used for. For security reasons, we don't label each floor's purpose."

Evin took the television remote on the wall next to the LCD screen and flopped on the opposite bench. He patted the place next to him. "Come on, sit down, let's watch a bit of tv while we ascend to the heavens!"

Daine sat next to him and watched him as he changed the channels. "Are you sure you can do that?" Daine asked.

"Sure! Why not? Nobody is here but you and me," Evin said and tossed her the remote. "Here, I'll let you have the remote, an overwhelming generous act of a normal urban male. Be honoured! Some males don't even give their wives the remote."

"Ha ha," Daine replied. She was quite at ease with Evin who was easy going and friendly, although surprisingly insightful and serious at times.

"Do you want a drink?" Evin asked, opening a small cupboard, which, surprisingly held a mini fridge.

"Oh my gosh, " Daine said. "How on earth can the lift take all the weight?"

Evin snorted, "As an employee of Tortall Inc, you should have more faith in our products. This lift was designed and manufactured by our company. Numair made billions in patenting the material used to make the cables and lift. Very strong, but light. There are discussions of using it to make aeroplanes with it."

"You are joking," Daine said.

"No, I'm not. But what do you expect from a Nobel Prize winner?" Evin said.

"Numair is a nobel prize winner!" Daine exclaimed.

Evin raised an eyebrow. "Yes... The youngest ever to be awarded such an honour. He did invent a lot of revolutionary things. Like our dear LCD screen tv. Little people know that he came up with such a concept and now it's being used for tvs and computers. Although other companies manufacture LCD tvs and computers, they have to pay him royalties you know..."

Daine gaped.

"Well, he is filthy rich and is on Forbes' list of most powerful people. Even higher than our dear CEO. Though Jonathan doesn't like to admit it. After all, our company is nothing without the edge-cutting technology and inventions that Numair comes up with." Evin supplied further.

The lift came to a stop and the doors opened silently. "Ah!" Evin said, and with a flourishing bow, "Here we are, this way my lady, onward to see your new office and boss!"

Daine gulped and walked out of the lift.

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_I'm writing this and publishing it without looking through it. So you are free to point out errors. thanks! _


	4. Chapter 1 Part 3

**Billionaire Scientist & his New Secretary**

**Chapter 1**

**Part 3**

_I realised belatedly that daine did a lot of nodding. Ah well, let's just say she's a bit overwhelmed, hence speechless. hee hee... Anyway, Thank goodness I upped the rating, coz there's some fluff in store. MUAHAHAHA..._

_I do apologise that this update sounds a bit abrupt, I wanted to quickly get the details out of the way and move to the fluff- I mean, plot. Yes, plot is good. Nod nod._

_**DISCLAIMER**_

_Unfortunately, Tortallan characters all belong to Tamora Pierce and not me... sob sob... Also, the office layout & technology is just out of my imagination. So if you are so lucky to have such an office, be assured, it's just a coincidence that this sounds like your office. hee hee!_

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"Good Morning Evin," a husky female voice greeted when Evin and Daine walked out of the lift.

Daine blinked, at the blonde vision in front of her seated behind a receptionist desk. She had stylishly cut bob and brown eyes. They had entered into what seem to be a reception area. Couches, chairs and small tables were fashionably scattered in the reception area. An assortment of pictures, magazine, newspaper cut-outs were framed on the wall. A cursory glance showed that they were all linked with Numair. To Daine's surprise, two security guards were seated in the reception area as well.

Evin noticed her surprise as he gently nudged her towards the reception desk, he explained, "Numair gets top notch security since all his work is top secret. We can't risk people leaking information or trying to steal his ideas. This reception area is rather casual, as it's mostly our own scientists and staff who come to see Numair."

As they reached the reception desk, the receptionist stood and smiled, showing her brilliant white teeth. She held out her hand, "Hello Ms. Sarrasri, my name is Shalene. I am Numair's receptionist."

"You can call me Daine," Daine said and shook her well-manicured hand, surprised that Shalene knew her name.

"I make it my job to know everyone's name as well as how they relate to Numair. This is so that I know who I should let in or not," Shalene smiled.

"I will count on you to keep Daine up to date on who's who in Numair's life so that she can handle the calls and visitors," Evin grinned. "You can even let her see the 90210 file."

Evin guided Daine behind the reception desk to enter, to Daine's surprise, not Numair's office, but rather, another maze of offices. Daine was a bit dazed at Evin's efficient introduction of the rooms and personnel. It appeared that Numair was like a company onto himself. There were meeting rooms, a library, lounge, pantry, even a science laboratory ("more for demonstrations than for real work, the real heavy duty stuff take place in the lower levels" Evin had explained).

What surprised Daine the most was the wealth of personnel employed for Numair's use. He had his own legal counsel ("since Numair needs it most for application of all the patents"), PR Manager ("to deal with Numair's active professional and personal life," Evin had whispered, "some while back the PR Department was complaining that they dealt with so much of inquires about Numair that he deserves his own PR manager to handle it."), research assistants ("This is a minute fraction of the R & D capability of Tortall Inc. Actually, the bulk of people under Numair's control is the R & D people and the various scientific departments which are located in the R & D block. Not all the labs are here though, they are spread out throughout the country, some are even overseas."), HR manager ("Oh come on, with all these people under Numair, you need someone to take care of them. Moreover, since he's in charge of all the R & D, he has to continually be on the look out for new talents") and all their accompanying supporting staff.

Daine found that _she_ even had secretarial support. Shalene dealt with all the walk-in visitors, another similarly blonde lady dealt with all the telephone calls, another handled all of Numair's faxes and mails, another had a full time job of looking through all his e-mails at his official e-mail. ("Numair only checks his personal e-mail, only relevant e-mails are forwarded to him from his official e-mail. Most of it is junk or fan mail. Fan mail or media inquiries are all directed to PR Manager to handle.") There were other ladies dealing with his paperwork.

Finally, they reached a door. "As you noticed," Evin said, "Most of the doors look identical, so it would be hard for an intruder to find the correct place he's looking for. Anyway, here is your office." He pointed to the black panel and Daine took out her card to wave it across.

The door slid open. What struck Daine was the space. Her office space was bigger than her apartment and probably a lot more comfortable. On the left was a gorgeous view of the city and its skyline, while on the right seemed to be rooms. She had an impressive mahogany desk that was probably bigger than her bed. On the desk was a sleek looking computer with an LCD screen (of course) as well as, curiously enough, a panel of buttons and some what seemed to be remote controls.

"Well my dear," Evin pranced in. "You probably have the most exciting office in this building."

"I do?" Daine asked. "What are with all these buttons? At least they seem to have labels."

"Ahh, you'll slowly learn and see what the buttons do. You see, as Numair's secretary, you are also the guinea pig for all his experiments. You get to try the latest cutting edge technology and devices. After all, if Tortall Inc doesn't use its own inventions, who will?" Evin explained. "Come come, see my favourite remote control," he bent over and took a remote control labelled "bar".

He turned to her, "One tip when you are trying out all these gadgets, the safest place to stand is probably your desk area." He pressed the red button and the wall on the right flipped open. To Daine's amazement, panels of wood and metal unfolded themselves to slowly form a bar top counter with stools. A wooden panel slid back to reveal shelves of liquor and glasses. "Cool huh? Never fails to impresses the chicks," Evin grinned. "So you can help them fix a drink if they want it. If you don't know anything about drinks, no worries," he walked towards the counter. "Just activate bartender 3000 with this green button."

A warm baritone voice said, "Welcome! How may I be of service?" Daine blinked as Evin led her to a screen behind the bar counter.

"Yes my good man," Evin said. "I want a martini, shaken, not stirred."

"Very good sir," the voice responded.

"See the screen," Evin explained. "You can even change his voice or put it to silent mode. This mode it is on, is automatic mode, it helps you make the drinks. Alternatively, if you want to make the drink yourself, you can change it to help mode. If you tell it what drink you want, it will list the ingredients as well as tell you where you can find the ingredients."

A whirling noise came from behind them and a panel slide open to reveal a cocktail glass with the martini. Evin took it, "Want some?"

"No thanks," Daine said. "Are you sure you are allowed to do this considering that Numair is around here?"

"Relax, Numair is a pretty laid-back guy," Evin said as he walked out from the bar. He pressed the red button on the remote control again and the bar efficiently folded back into the wall. "Wait till you see your bathroom, it even cleans itself!"

"Evin," Daine interrupted. "I'm sure it's all well and good, but I really think I should see Numair before it gets too late in the day."

"My dear girl, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," Evin grinned as he walked toward her desk.

"I'm not Jack and I'm being paid pro rata," Daine scowled.

"Ah, only paid pro rata till Numair confirms your appointment," Evin said. "The way Numair goes through his secretaries, we thought it's better if we just go pro rata than a fixed salary because they normally drop out of the job in less than a month."

Daine gulped.

Evin took what looked like a sleek palm top and handed it to Daine. "Guard this with your life," Evin said, "this is a prototype, fresh out of Numair's laboratories. Only you can access it with your card, so if you would do the honours?" Daine swiped her card across and Evin continued to speak, "In here, you can access all the various installations here, like you can activate the bar using your palmtop. This is done by new technology Numair devised. So please keep this to yourself, it's confidential. Nobody knows of the exact technology Numair is using for the machines to..." Evin dropped his voice and tried to say in a scary tone, "talk to each other..."

Daine rolled her eyes.

Evin grinned and continued the demonstration, "Here, is Numair's appointment book. Both personal and professional... Ooohh la la... Ain't it a pity that you had to sign the confidentiality form or get your pants sued off? If only Numair hired guys... I tell you, what I'll do to get his black book..."

Daine elbowed Evin, and peered at the palmtop, "So this is his schedule for today... A meeting with the Board of Directors at 10am, that's half an hour from now!"

Evin nodded, "and knowing Numair, you will have to remind him and drag him there. Now, you can find the location of the place by tapping here and here. You probably have to follow Numair to the meeting, but you don't have to take minutes or anything, because if you press here and here, you can tape record what is said, the computer will be analyse the voice patterns and convert the audio file into a word document. You can then send it to your computer, just tap here, here and here."

Daine shook her head, she felt like she was in some science fiction novel. "Evin," Daine asked. "Sorry to be so frank, but, what exactly is my job? I-I-I don't seem to have anything to do. The secretarial staff takes care of most things and even the technology around here would probably do a better job than I at taking minutes and such. And, why is it that you know so much about all the technology and such?"

"First, I'm a Personal Assistant to Onua. She gets a lot of top brass visiting her. Besides, everyone drops by HR now and then from all departments, so I get to hear gossip here and then. Second, I'm a true born busybody. Third, I had to do this introduction to ALL of Numair's new secretaries, so I slowly got to learn about all the technology that went into this place," Evin explained, grinning disarmingly at Daine.

Daine began to wonder, '_Exactly HOW many secretaries did Numair go through?' _She shook her head, "so what exactly am I hired to do?"

"Oh that?" Evin said. "As you've noticed, Numair has a lot of people working under him, he doesn't have time to go talk to them separately one by one. So you basically help to relay his will, whims and wishes. Everyone has to go through YOU first before they can get to the big guy. Like all the telephone calls, mail, visitors, the secretarial staff help you screen and filter the first level, you have to deal with the rest. You do get paperwork, but you are mainly expected to delegate them. Don't be shy, or you'll put those lovely ladies you saw out of jobs. What is your main job, as I'm surprised Alanna didn't tell you straight off, as she did to the other secretaries, is to baby-sit Numair."

"Baby-sit Numair? Are you serious?" Daine asked faintly, thinking, '_What did I get myself into?_'

"Yup," Evin said. "I'll say, your first task is to make sure that Numair makes it to that meeting on time. Come, let's see the big guy." He knocked on Numair's door.

There was no response. "Hmm…" Evin said, and pointed to the black panel.

"You want me to open the door without him letting us in?" Daine gaped.

"Yes my dear, you'll soon find out that you will be intruding on Numair whether he likes it or not, so be a dear and open the door. Numair could be sleeping inside or talking to himself or all caught up in the latest discovery. Wouldn't be the first time he's missed the meeting," Evin said.

Daine obligingly activated the door which slid open. Her heart beat faster at the prospect of seeing this enigmatic boss she was to work for. She followed Evin as he walked in, trying to compose herself… '_What if he doesn't like me?_' Daine thought. '_I'm not blind, I can tell that he has hired people based on… aesthetic qualities… I'm not blonde or drop dead gorgeous… I hope he'll give me a chance!_'

Evin stopped suddenly and Daine nearly slammed into his back, "Hmm… seems like he's not here. You can try calling him on his mobile by tapping here and here on your palmtop."

"My palmtop can make calls!" Daine yelped, suitably impressed. "Is that even possible?"

"Tsk tsk," Evin said, quoting a Tortall Inc commercial, "By now, you should know that 'everything is possible with Tortall Inc'".

The palmtop indicated that the call was not picked up. Daine felt dazed, thinking of all the floors and rooms that Numair could possibly be in. Suddenly, there was a beeping sound, Daine jumped. "Sorry, my handphone," Evin said. "I'm not as high tech as you to have a palm top that can double up as a handphone. Oh yeah, you can use the ear piece if you want your conversation to be private." Evin picked up his phone and walked towards the window.

Daine thought, '_If only I didn't need the money so badly, but I'm way overdue in my rent. I can't possibly borrow money from Miri considering that I already owe her so much! If only I didn't need to escape so suddenly without taking a penny with me…'_

Evin broke Daine's reverie of thought, "Sorry," he apologised, "I have to go back and sort out some matters, some fool had mixed up the pay cheques at the bank." He walked towards the lift lobby, with Daine following behind.

"But Numair?" Daine spluttered as they got into the flat. Evin patted Daine on the shoulder, "Don't worry dear, thanks to Onua's insistence, this palmtop can help you track him down. With this baby, you can check where he is in the building. If he's out of the building, well, good luck to you. Tap here, here, swipe your card, yes, and ah… ." Evin looked at the palmtop and grinned.

"So where is he?" Daine asked.

Evin grinned as he held the palmtop to him as he stepped out of the lift. "Remember Daine, he has to get to that meeting in, what, _20 minutes time_? The clock is ticking…"

"Evin, you're making me nervous! Where is he? In the labs?" Daine exclaimed.

Evin grinned, "Even better my dear…" and handed her back the palmtop. "Welcome to Tortall Inc," he chirped mischievously as the lift doors closed.

Daine stared at the palmtop and gaped.

Numair was in his apartment!

"Odd Bobs!" Daine groaned. "Knowing my luck, he'll probably be sleeping… I just hope to the heavens that he doesn't have female company!"

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_I thank all the reviewers, below are just more specific comments to certain reviewers._

_Valkyrie228: Yup! It's ok! I know that you have immeasurable amount of patience with me! I remember you reviewing wayyyy back when I started writing What If. ;)_

_TheBrassPotato_: Yup, now you understand why he's **THAT** rich and is a billionaire... hee hee...

_confusedpink_: You are right. Varice is coming soon... Ah... she's the over-used old love interest device and I'm fully guilty of going to exploit her... MUAHAHAHAHA!

_w1cked angel__: you've a sharp eye for detail. Yes! I mis-spelt Onua! Thanks for pointing that out!_


	5. Chapter 1 Part 4

**BILLIONAIRE SCIENTIST & HIS NEW SECRETARY**

**CHAPTER 1**

**PART 4**

_Those who had read this fic earlier on would realise that I had combined "part 4 & 5" together in this part. Simply because they were intended to be one part together, and yes, that's why they were so short. Also, I have edited "part 5", especially the Tortall Messenger part because I didn't realise that so many symbols didn't appear on _

_Yup, my exams are FINALLY over! hooray! I don't own Tortallan characters! If I did, I wouldn't need to take exams... hahhahaaha I know the previous part may be a bit tedious to chew through, but was necessary for future plot devices..._

_NOTE:_

_DD Cafe is like starbucks. Huge, successful, many outlets kind of thing._

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_Ouna's Office_

"I wonder how the new girl is doing," Alanna said, still comfortably ensconced in Ouna's plush arm chair.

"Hmm," Ouna said, stretching in her chair. "I guess we will soon be able to tell... since all of you are supposed to have a meeting with the big bosses in 20 minutes' time?"

"I'll say," Alanna quipped and suddenly gave a mischevious smile, "I think Daine will be lucky if Numair is obediently at his desk..."

Ouna raised a brow, "And why is that?"

Alanna snorted. "Hello, yesterday was the charity gala that Tortall Inc sponsored. Numair went. Women swarmed. I have no doubt that Numair's not a monk who will go straight to bed at nine without wrecking some havoc."

Before Ouna could reply to that, someone knocked on her door. "That's strange," Ouna muttered. "Who can that be?"

Alanna got up from the chair and walked towards the door, "Probably George, delivering the coffee, snacks from the DD Cafe."

"Wait, THE George you talked about? THE George working at DD Cafe whom you ran into and you accidentally spilt coffee on. THE George who you went out a few times with and you said you felt totally comfortable with him? THAT George?" Ouna demanded.

"SHUSH!" Alanna hissed. "He's not deaf you know. It's no big deal. We're just friends."

Ouna snorted. "Like Jonathan views you as a 'friend'." Her eyes narrowed. "Hey... does Jonathan know about his love rival?"

Alanna rolled her eyes. "Jon and George are my f-r-i-e-n-d-s. There's no love rivalry or whatever rubbish you're talking about."

"Oooh... so he doesn't know about George," Ouna wagged her eyebrows.

Alanna glared at Ouna and yanked open the door before Ouna could comment further. Ouna scrutinised the newcomer as he walked in, introduced, and talked to Alanna. '_He's alright I guess,_' Ouna thought. '_His nose stops him from being called handsome, but he has nice eyes. Very friendly and likeable. Different from Jonathan. Both of them are incredibly charming... Jonathan in a suave and seductive way, while George in a more, homely friendly manner, the kind you want to show your mom to..._' Ouna stifled a smile. '_The man you want an affair with versus a man you want to marry_..._ This should be interesting..._'

George broke into Ouna's thoughts, "I'm sorry dear, was our discussion about soccer boring you?"

"Oh, no no," Ouna smiled. "I was just thinking about other things..." Ouna was saved from cooking up some explanation by another knock on her door.

The door opened and Jonathan stepped in, "Alanna dear, are you ready?"

Ouna struggled to hide her amusement. Jonathan and George eyed each other warily. Both immediately recognising each other as a potential rival. Jonathan, by his use of endearment and George, by the way he was sitting on the armrest of the chair that Alanna was sitting in. Both knew that it was rare that Alanna would allow a guy to sit so close to her or a guy to address her so fondly without a sound protest. '_Goodness,_' Ouna thought in amusement. '_Any moment now, they will start growling at each other_.'

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_Numair's Apartment_

'_It figures that I _just_ had to do things the hard way... Why couldn't he just respond to my knocking at his door, or my calling of his name when I entered his apartment? Noooo... he chooses not to respond and make me go walking through this huge palace that is mockingly called his apartment.'_ Daine thought grumpily, walking through Numair's hallway. If she was not so nervous at finding Numair, she would have taken time to be more in awe at the grandeur of the place. When she walked through the hall, there was a swimming pool and garden visible through the sliding doors. She had stumbled upon his library, where her eyes momentarily widened at the piles and range of books and papers stacked haphazardedly all over the enormous room.

Suddenly, her attention was caught by a trail of clothes strewn along a particular hallway. She blinked and gingerly picked her way through what seemed like shoes, socks, a towel, etc. Out of habit, she picked up the items as she followed the suspicious trail. She felt as if she was picking up the breadcrumbs left behind by Gretel that led to the witch's house.

Finally, she peered through a pair of double doors that were left open.

Daine's face burned red and nervously clutched the items that clearly belonged to the occupant on the bed.

Sleek muscle.

Silk bed sheets.

It was a wonder that she didn't suffer from a nose bleed.

A tanned man with a drool-worthy body was sprawled on a huge poster bed draped in silk. He appeared unclothed, but thank goodness for small mercies, a blanket barely covered him.

Suddenly a beep scared her out of her reverie. She scrambled to locate the source of the noise and found her palmtop blinking a message - "Hey Daine, 5 minutes to meeting. Get his ass down there asap. Big bosses meeting. Don't want to create bad impression do you? Evin."

She glanced cautiously at the figure on the bed. He had barely stirred. _'I should be grateful that he's sleeping alone!_' Daine thought and mentally slapped herself, _'Come on Daine! Be P-r-o-f-e-s-s-i-o-n-a-l! Buck up, do your job!_' She determinedly stomped out the small voice that went, _'But secretaries don't go into their boss's bedroom to wake up their obviously naked bosses!'_

She walked up to the bed and called, "Mr Salmalin? You are going to be late for a meeting... Mr Salmalin!" She gritted her teeth in exasperation, grabbed his shoulder and shook him.

"Don't you know when to keep quiet woman!" came a deep voice, thick with sleep. To Daine's utter surprise, a hand expertly gripped her arm and in a practiced roll, had her partially under him. His arm thrown carelessly over her and his head nuzzling her neck. "Shush, just sleep, it's way to early to be up and about," Numair muttered.

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_On Tortall Messenger... (Note: Tortall Messenger is an online chatting service. Something like ICQ, Msn messenger, etc._ )

_Jon says_: Are you still mad at me? XX

_ALAnnA says_: You know I am. How can you treat George like that?

_Jon says_: I just gave him the money and told him to keep the change. Is it so bad to tip someone?

_ALAnnA says_: NOT when you did it in that derogatory tone and called him the Coffee Boy. For crying out loud! He's about your age!

_Jon says_: You're over-reac-sjlnfd ALANNA! Don't stomp on my foot like that! We're in a meeting!

_ALAnnA says_: Then why the heck are you chatting on Tortall Messenger with me! XP You're the CEO! For crying out loud! Try to act professional!

_Jon says_: """ Oh please! Boring Benedict is going on and on about the environment. He may have formerly been in an elite position in Ministry of Research & Development, but we're now in the _private_ sector. Hello! Profits are what matters. Not ideals. We're not the government who can derive revenue from taxes! For crying out loud! The Code of Environmental Protection released by the Government are g-u-i-d-e-l-i-n-e-s. They are NOT laws. Our competitors are not going to give two hoots about the code, neither should we.

_ALAnnA says_: Uh huh...

_Jon says_: Besides, speaking of unprofessional. Where's Numair? The meeting has started as he has not shown his face yet. How are we to make decisions about the direction of Tortall Inc without his input? I thought Ouna was supposed to get him a secretary by now to get his ass down here!

_Jon says_: Speak of the devil. He's here. Oh _wow..._ what kind of night does he have man... he has some scratches on his cheek! rowrrrrr...

_-some time later-_

_ALAnnA says_: I'm sorry that your proposal not to follow the Code of Environmental Protection got shot down. The Board had seemed a bit receptive, maybe next time?

_Jon says_: Unlikely if Numair is insistent on adhering to that code which had set ridiculously high standards. _Sigh..._ If only Numair works out the dollars and cents of things, instead of being in his ivory tower... Carthak Inc crept up closer to us in the last month's earnings.

_ALAnnA says_: Well, you know Numair, he has a big say when it comes to manufacture of products.

_Jon says_: It's obvious he does not seem to have a big say in hiring of his secretary though! She looks like a mouse! Ouna's trying to punish him is it?

_ALAnnA says_: Don't be so mean! Daine seems like a nice girl. Though I hope she doesn't feel too overwhelmed by him!

_Jon says_: She better _not_. I can't believe that she let him come to the meeting this late! If not I might as well use her pay to buy a zapping device that will zap him whenever he comes to a meeting late, if at all...

_ALAnnA says_: ha. ha. ha. Don't be mean... it's just her first day!

_Jon says_: Anyway, are you free for dinner tonight?

_ALAnnA says_: Nope, I have something on.

_Jon says_: _Hmm..._

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_Thank you to all reviewers for reviewing! Below are just more specific replies to queries & concerns raised. _

_Jasmineb: Yup yup! George finally makes his appearance, going to have a bit of a love triangle going on... _

_Valkyrie228 : What If will probably be updated... eventually, I guess I now want to concentrate on this fic first, somehow the ideas come flowing easily with this fic, maybe because i don't need to refer to the books as much! _

_MysticMist: Thank you for liking my fic. Well, I think everyone has a free choice, if they like the fic well enough to review, they'll do it, if they don't, they don't. simple as that. The 10 review thing is for me to know whether people like it enough for me to continue investing effort to translate my thoughts into words and post it on If people don't like the fic enough to review, that's perfectly fine, I'll just save some webspace! But, re-reading the update, I think that it was perhaps naughty of me to be that teasing at the end, so I modified accordingly. But, internally, I'm keeping in mind that if people do not find interest in the story, I would save time, effort and space and stop updating. My internal gauge is 10 reviews. _

_I agree that it's best for writers to write for themselves and not to pander to audiences only. But I think there must be a distinction between the reason for the story direction and the reason for posting the story. I think most, if not all people who post on post because they want people to read their stories. If they did not, they probably would not bother translating their thoughts into words and posting it online for the world to see. That's the reason why I ask for 10 reviews. To know whether i should continue posting the story. As regards to story direction and plot, I write according to what I think and how I want the story to develop. Like no matter how many people might want a Daine-Neal or Daine-Kaddar pairing, I won't give a damn coz Numair-Daine forever! hearts in eyes _

_Anyway, I hope this clarifies things. I fully appreciate and admire that despite whatever feelings you might have for my asking 10 reviews, you didn't let that colour your feelings towards my fic. _


	6. Chapter 1 Part 5

**BILLIONAIRE SCIENTIST & HIS NEW SECRETARY**

**CHAPTER 1**

**PART 5**

_After this part, I will be moving on to Chapter 2, FINALLY I would think! _

_Happy Chinese New year! Hope you had lots of "ang baos" (red packets) & your fill of new year goodies! pineapple tarts, bak kwa (sweet meats), love letters, egg rolls... -drooolllll-..._

_Don't own Tortall & its characters! Usual disclaimers apply!_

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_Daine & Miri's apartment..._

Daine flopped on the battered couch the moment she entered the small apartment. She heard someone moving to sit on the floor next to her and turned her head to see an excited grinning face. 

"So, so?" Miri asked excitedly. "Is he as hunky as they say he is? Is he still going out with that Hollywood actress? huh? huh? spill the dirt" She playfully tugged Daine's arm with puppy dog eyes.

Daine sighed. She just... _did_ not want to even try to think over the horrendous series of events that occurred that day... She wondered if she even had a _job_ tomorrow...

"Please please!" Miri pleaded, tugging Daine's arm with more force, exaggeratedly fluttering her eyelashes. 

Daine could not stand proof against Miri's pleadings. She was greatly indebted to Miri, in more ways than one. Miri had kindly taken her in when she first arrived in the city. At that time, Miri needed to earn extra income to pay off the installments to the apartment to the owner of the building and decided to rent out a room. She had warmly welcomed Daine without even asking to look at Daine's forged references. It was _perhaps_ foolhardy... but, it meant the world to Daine. Especially when Daine could not pay the rent initially and Miri even _lent_ her money to get started! She never applied pressure (which she was more than entitled to) for Daine to repay her.

"Let's just say... it's been quite a weird day... things have been... kind of crazy," Daine said. "I'm nothing but a glorified babysitter for Numair actually. This morning, I had to drag him to a meeting which he was late to. Didn't help that it was a high level meeting and a few directors of the board gave me a dirty look when he strode in an hour late. I swear, he was just doing that to aggravate me!"

Miri raised an eyebrow. "Aggravate you when you've hardly met? Are you sure? He's well-known for being nice to even the little people, why last month he had went down to the rubbish cleaners..."

Daine winced and interrupted Miri's by-now familiar litany of Numair's outstanding qualities, "Well, I... accidentally scratched him this morning." When Numair had her under him, her right arm was trapped under him and she has instinctively swiped at him with her left hand, screeching, and "Get off me!"

"You scratched him!" Miri yelped. "Oh my goodness! My dear girl, what on earth were you thinking!"

"Hey," Daine protested. "It was an a-c-c-i-d-e-n-t! Anybody who saw it would know I was not at fault..."

"W-e-l-l," Miri huffed." If it wasn't your fault, I'm sure he would be nice about it. Being a woman-charmer and all."

Daine snorted, "No he wasn't. Probably because he doesn't really see me as a girl. Or he's only nice to females that look good." She frowned when she recalled her conversation with Numair...

_"Ouch! Why did you have to scratch me for?" Numair demanded, being rudely brought back to reality and full alertness when Daine had scratched him._

_Daine was similarly brought to full awareness when Numair narrowed his eyes and said sternly, "Wait a second. Who are you?"_

_Daine had to control her trembling, _'Calm down Daine, it's only natural you're a bit nervous. Your right hand is trapped by his body and his right hand is gripping your other hand... He's your boss and NAKED to boot!'_ Somehow, the thought that he was naked was very disturbing. "I, I'm your... your, new secretary. Veralidaine Sarrasri."_

_Numair said in what Daine thought was a haughty tone, "Ms. Sarrasri, I have no idea what you learnt in your previous jobs, but it is really unbecoming to break and enter into an employer's home without permission. I believe in most states, it is called a c-r-i-m-e."_

_Daine's eyes flared. "And in most states, THIS is called s-e-x-u-a-l h-a-r-a-s-s-m-e-n-t. I was told to drag you down to the meeting, which must have started already. I tried to wake up and it's not my fault that _you_ had to drag me into bed."_

_Daine's eyes widened and her heart beat wildly as Numair leaned closer to her and said, "Sorry to get your expectations up, but... you're not my type." He rolled off her and wrapped the bed sheet around him. _

"I don't think sooo..." Miri protested. "he is nice to both MEN and women-"

"You're saying I look like a man?" Daine raised an eyebrow. "well, that man purposely tried to irritate me today by taking an HOUR just to get ready for a board meeting that he was _already_ late for! I could tell I was in so much trouble when I walked into the room. The board of directors gave me the evil eye..."

"I heard he's quite a fastidious man about dressing up. According to High Society, he takes on average, an hour to get ready every morning when he wakes up," Miri said thoughtfully.

"Well," Daine snorted. "If he is late, he _jolly_ well hurry up! Especially when the big bosses were WAITING for him. Besides, he is such an egotistical womaniser! After the meeting, the directors asked him about his scratches and he just lifted his eyebrow in this, this, oh, wink wink, kind of, you have to ask, sort of way! And to think! I felt so guilty, when I later followed him to this photo shoot for the cover of GQ, the artistic director was upset that he had injured his face. But Numair just gave him this knowing look and went, 'Oh, you can say that things have been... _wild_ recently'. GRrrrr! Why did he go around giving people the impression that had must have had some mad orgy the previous night!"

"Awww..." Miri said.

"Did you just say awww?" Daine demanded, blinking in surprise.

"Yes..." Miri answered. "I think that's so sweet of him! He's protecting you!"

"Are. You. kidding. Me?" Daine spluttered. "He just wanted to give everyone the impression that he was some wild stud."

"For all you know, he could have had some er hum, _action_ last night," Miri said as Daine tried not to roll her eyes. She knew that was not true, considering that all the items she had picked were distinctly male and he was alone in the morning.

"Anyway," Miri continued. "Surely you don't expect him to tell the truth. That you had scratched his precious face on the first day of job! Imagine that after coming to the meeting so late, he adds oil to the fire by complaining that you had scratched his face when he had an important photo shoot later. If he was really that diva you're trying to portray, he would have long thrown you to the lions and kick a fuss that you had scratched him. After all, he is a very important front of the company. I doubt Tortall Inc would be as well known if not that he and Jonathan was such hunky and drool-worthy guys..." Miri giggled. "as compared to Ozorne the CEO of Carthak Inc, he's like a strutting peacock."

Daine rolled her eyes, "I don't see why you have to keep defending Numair."

Miri raised her eyebrow, "And I don't see why _you_ have to keep slamming him. Just take things easy, give him the benefit of the doubt."

"Hmm..." Daine said, and was saved from a reply when her watch alarm beeped. She got up from the couch and ran into her room to change.

"Where are you going?" Miri asked.

"Off to give tuition to the Alicia Draper," Daine replied from her bedroom, her voice muffled by the sweater she was pulling on.

"Oh... your first lesson with the brainy child on gifted programme who is off to MIT at first opportunity," Miri said. "Good luck!"

"Thanks," Daine said, striding from the bedroom towards the door, thinking, '_Let's hope everything will go smoothly and her relatives won't give me problems!'_

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_Along an uptown street..._

Alanna rammed into a large figure as she exited from a restaurant. She looked up into laughing dark eyes.

He wagged his eyebrows, "Hot date?"

"Why is it everyone seems to be asking that?" Alanna demanded, her fist on her hips.

"You mean everyone by, Jon and George?" he said teasingly.

Alanna gaped, "Now how did you... oh shesh! This company is nothing more than a glorified gossip mill!"

"Now now," Numair smiled. "You wound me, surely my inventions mean something. So, stop evading the topic, why are you here?"

She sighed, pushing her hair away from her eyes. "I'm just meeting Thom. He just got fired and came to this city to find better job prospects."

"Thom?" Numair said. "Isn't he your twin who graduated from Stanford?"

"Yup, that one," Alanna replied.

"Then he shouldn't have any trouble getting a job," Numair comforted. "I'm sure he has the pick of firms."

"Well, I hope so," Alanna said. "Just that he didn't get good referrals. He's brilliant, but just so reckless and moody. Hard to get along with."

"Hmm..." Numair said consideringly.

"Anyway," Alanna shook her head. "Where are _you_ off to? Hot date? eh eh?" She nudged Numair with her elbow.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but my life is not as exciting as the media makes it to be," Numair laughed. "I'm off to see my niece actually, to pass her some science apparatus."

"Looks like it's a family night for us, wild singles," Alanna joked. "Since she's your niece, I guess brilliance must run in the family. Wants to be a researcher like her favourite uncle eh?"

Numair smiled and said, "Let's say Alicia Draper wants to outshine me and be the youngest entrant into MIT. "

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_Thanks for reading! Just note that I do have school, that's why I can't update as regularly as I would have wanted._


	7. Chapter 2 Part 1

**BILLIONAIRE SCIENTIST & HIS SECRETARY**

**CHAPTER 2**

**PART 1**

_FINALLY! I'm starting on Chapter 2._ _This part is a bit short, but can't be helped. Have an assignment due on Monday._

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**_HIGH SOCIETY: GOSSIP COLUMN_**

_Dear Readers, _

_Bidding you a lovely good morning! Much speculation has swirled around Numair's new secretary. Perhaps it is our nation's over-indulgence in Mills & Boons novels, our deep dark secret of having a _really_ hot, rich boss and having him fall head over heels for you. Let me tell you some interesting statistics on the fast and furious applications that flooded in for this coveted position._

_Number of boxes of applications: 47_

_Proportion of single females that applied: 87_

_Proportion of blondes that applied: 96 _

_Proportion of NATURAL blondes that applied: 35 _

_Quantity of explicit photographs of applicants: enough to compile 24 playboy magazines_

_Of course, in order to help you readers keep abreast of social news and indulge in a spot of curiousity, I had a sneak peek at Numair's new secretary yesterday. Let me tell you girls... _

_Heave a sigh of relief._

_I think it's quite safe to say that Numair's bachelor status is quite protected. When I saw her, I got quite a start._

_XXX Lady Dove  
_  
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Daine blinked, "I can't believe that I warrant a mention in Lady Dove's column!" She and Miri were sitting on the bus on their way to work when the latter had triumphantly whipped up the latest issue of _High Society_.

"This is truly a momentous day!" Miri said cheerfully. "I _actually_ know someone who featured in Lady Dove's gossip column! Girl! We are really rising up in the social ranks!"

Daine rolled her eyes, "It's not in a very complimentary way you know, I think she was implying something about my looks." She shivered, "But it's so creepy! Lady Dove coming in to have a look at me! Someone was stalking me without me knowing!"

"You're over-reacting," Miri said, gently whacking Daine with the magazine. "But did you get a chance to see Lady Dove? She's very secretive about herself and the tabloids have been going crazy for your years trying to find out who she is."

Daine cleared her throat and tried to change the topic, "Anyway, last night I went over to Alicia's Draper house to give her tuition. She's an interesting girl, not as snobby as I thought. You should meet her Miri, I think she's like a little matchmaker! Turns out her favourite Uncle Arram popped over and gave her what has to be some really expensive science equipment for her. But he left before I came, turned out that I missed him by a hair. She was horribly appalled to find out that I was not married or attached at my age and insisted that she gave me a helping hand."

Miri waggled her eyebrows and laughed, "A girl after my own heart! But seriously Daine! You can't expect your Mr. Right to just fall into your lap. Go out and do your thing! Next time you go to her house, I'm helping you pick out your clothes. God gave you a decent figure, you should make the best of it. You should do something with your hair, get some contacts!"

Daine looked out of the window, "I am who I am, and Mr Right should like me for who I am, and not simply because I look pretty. Look at it this way, twenty years down the road, we'll all have cellulite, saggy chest, wobbly fats... Oh! Here's my stop. See you tonight!"

Daine hurriedly rushed off the bus, determined not to be late for second day of work. As she strode towards the lobby, she thought, '_Oh please god, let Numair be in a good mood today and forget about yesterday's debacle!'_ As the crowd thinned out, she did not realise that the woman in front of her had stopped walking and was talking to another man. Daine collided into the woman who gasped as the cup of coffee she held _swoshed_ over her, the man and the floor.

The woman spun on her heel and glared at Daine. If looks could kill, Daine would be bleeding from the chest, stabbed by 20 daggers. Daine internally winced when she noticed that the woman's pristine white dress was stained with coffee. '_Oh crap,_' Daine thought. '_Looks like silk! The stain won't probably wash off and I don't even think I can afford to buy her another dress like that!_'

"Selda?" the man asked, in what looked like a Hugo Boss suit.

Selda spun around, her eyes shining, her vividly painted mouth open in gentle surprise. "I'm so sorry Farant! It's all my fault. If I had capped the DD coffee cup, my coffee would not have spilt over you!"

"Now now Selda," Farant said, frowning, taking out a handkerchief and handing it to her. "It is obviously not your fault." He looked disapprovingly at Daine. "You should watch where you are going, this is a brand new suit!"

"I am sorry, I didn't realise-" Daine started to say apologetically.

"Sorry? Words mean nothing. If sorry was enough, we wouldn't need police to catch criminals. You should pay Farant's dry cleaning bill. IF this stain can ever come out in the first place!" Selda scolded, dabbing ineffectually at the stain on her dress.

Daine gulped. She was already in debt to Miri and could hardly afford to buy such expensive new clothing!

"Well, well," a friendly voice said. "What do we have here? Trying to bully the new staff, eh?" The three of them turned to look at a devastatingly handsome man with blue cobalt eyes.

"No," Farant forced a laugh. "This girl spilt coffee on us."

Jonathan grinned, "Accidents do happen, besides, you should be more careful when you're holding hot coffee in the middle of the crowd. Especially when you're wearing a _white_ dress. Surely… both of you are not _petty_ enough to hold it against her when you were standing in the middle of no where during rush hour."

Backed into a corner, Selda was forced to give a flirty laugh and concede, "Of course not, we were just telling her to be more careful. If I was holding hot coffee, people could have been hurt."

"That's nice of you," Jonathan praised. He turned and called out to Daine, "Come along Veralidaine, wouldn't want Numair to be late this morning eh?" Daine blinked, but quickly scurried after him.

Unknownst to her, two pairs of eyes narrowed. Not liking one bit that they had appeared bad in front of their bosses.

Selda clenched her fist and thought menacingly, '_Veralidaine... you better watch out! I'm going to find out who you are working for and make your life a living hell..."_

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_Actually, I originally wanted to write out what happened the moment Daine woke Numair up in Chapter 1. However, I didn't know if people were able to get the subtle hint of what Numair was doing when he was implying to people that he got his scratches from, er hum, some exploit. So I decided to throw in Miri's commentary. I'm being a bit more subtle about Numair in this fic. His ambiguous actions can be interpreted favourably and negatively. Up to readers to interpret as they wish as to why Numair acted the way he did... _


	8. Chapter 2 Part 2

**Billionaire Scientist & His New Secretary**

**Chapter 2**

**Part 2**

_I promised that I would give a longer update. But longer update means more time writing. Hope it's worth the wait. _

_I realise that as I write, the parts can be grouped together differently. So when I'm free, I will probably start lumping them together and labelling them as chapters. Easier for readers to read rather than having to click on so many parts!_

_Tamora Pierce owns all…_

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

A woman who was the epitome of aging gracefully sat in one of the most exclusive restaurants in the city. Her only display of any apparent wealth was not in her simple gold wedding ring, rather, it was the expensive cut of the clothes. They were deceptively simple, flushed in warm tones, but it was of little doubt that it was a Chanel classic.

She disliked it.

She did admit to some frivolous splurges now and then, but wearing an outfit that could easily support an improvished family for a year was _quite_ another matter altogether. In her younger days, she _had_ coveted the luxury brands that had splashed across fashion magazines, but the harsh realities of working life had quickly robbed her of that notion. She had become far too practical and thrifty with money to indulge in such "overpriced rags". Especially when most of the family's income had to be channelled to fund her precocious children's education and pursuits.

A mother's love knows no bound. This was why she was wearing the outrageously expensive clothes that her son had bought her for Christmas. He was now outrageously rich and she supposed, he has earned every right to spend his hard earned money. It helped a bit that he had started a scholarship fund in _her_ name although she had complained that normally only the _dead_ have scholarship funds in their names posthumously. As well as his regular donations to charity, this had curbed her tongue in scolding him in being too frivolous with money.

But this love was being _severely_ tested by now. All that she asked for before she meets her maker, was to see her only son settled down. She supposed she was glad that he had procured a lunch at one of the most exclusive restaurants in the city as it had provided the privacy and security that other places could ill afford. This was hardly a discussion that was fit for the ears of the media. And even her, a woman whose only encounter with magazines were more of the living and homemaking kind, knew that **Numair Salmalin was hot news**. _Especially_ when it came to his romantic life.

They were in a plush private room with a paranomic view of the city. The décor was decidedly oriental in flavour, with silk paintings and beautiful Chinese calligraphy adorning the walls. She had no doubt that her son was pretty capable of translating those words if he wished. He better be able to. With all the money she had spent on his linguistic pursuits. She also knew him well enough that he had specifically chosen this restaurant because of its famous succulent butter lobsters. Her favourite. He was always a smart devil. But this would not put her off the track on "gently persuading" him to discard his single status and welcome marital bliss. But what _did_ put her off track, was this unexpected surprise that her son had sprung on her…

"Daine, how did my son propose to you?" the woman asked smilingly.

"Mrs-" Daine started.

"-call me Anna, we _are_ going to be family soon, isn't it Numair?" Anna interrupted gently, smiling at Numair.

Numair smiled confidently at his mother, his arm casually slung over Daine's chair. Anna had suspicions about the authenticity of Numair's sudden declaration. Daine was a mousy thing, a nice girl, the sort whom you would to bring to see your mother. But contrary to Numair's… _regular_ taste. She was his mother, but she was _not_ blind to her son's apparent inclinations. Especially when they were regularly featured and splashed in newspapers.

Numair was either trying to fall a fast one on her, or he was _truly utterly_ struck by love.

Daine blushed, something which Anna found quite endearing. _Quite_ a marked difference from the experienced flowers that often adorned her son's arms.

Daine on the other hand, was _sorely_ tempted to just jump up, smack her hands on the table and yell, "It's a scam! An utter scam! This _six-foot-four_ man is utterly scared of his mother! For shame, oh shame! Trying to lie to his mother! All because he wants peace and quiet to invent this crucial period before the new range of Tortall Inc products are launched. Oh, and did I mention that he seems to have a _thing_ against Tortall Inc's competitor, Carthak Corp?

_How_ did I get dragged into this? Well, you see, your son, my dear lady, is not above _blackmail_. This morning. WELLL… Your son loves to tinker around with all these gizmos and gadgets. Not taking into consideration that it is not user friendly. One of this investors had went to the toilet and asked me to switch on the lights. Which I did. On this HUUGGGEEE remote control that is probably the wet dream of all the boys in the universe. Anyway, I accidentally hit the button that causes the toilet to auto-clean itself. Yup. If I had more money, I would have paid off the woman's spoilt expensive Prada dress. Yes. Prada. I can't understand how people can wear clothes that can feed an improvished family for a year. An outrageously expensive outfit that is ONLY dry clean. Imagine that. For that money, I expect it to survive on under circumstances, rain or shine. Heck, even auto-clean. I digress, your son naturally charmed his way into the woman's good graces and insisted on paying for the dress. He turns around and tells me that I don't have to pay him back anything if I just do something for him. Oh geez, to think for a moment I was scared it was of some sexual nature… Noo… silly me, why on _earth_ would I think that when he made it very clear that he wouldn't approach me with a ten-foot stick."

Daine tore herself from this mentally delicious image. But she needed the money. Miri had already dipped into her savings to cover loss and this was only a temporary measure.

"Daine? Kitten? Are you alright? Are you cold? Do you need my jacket?" Numair asked solicitously.

Daine gave him a lukewarm smile and restrained herself from cringing at the endearment. "No my dear… _snapdragon_, I am fine. I am just caught up in the memories of how you proposed to me."

Anna's attention was focused on Daine and did not catch the flicker of warning in Numair's eyes. Unfortunately, Daine did not miss it and turned to Anna. She rested her head against her hand. Since she had nothing to go on, she might as well just speak about her fantasy of finally finding _the_ one and having him propose to her. With a few modifications. Of course.

"Numair knows me very well," Daine said, her voice softening as she lapsed into deep thought. "As you can tell, I am not exactly… a guy magnet. It's embarrassing, but I haven't received a flower for Valentine 's Day before. He knew I had a soft spot for flowers and how I _envied_ others who had copious amount of flowers for Valentine's Day. So one day, when I came to work, I saw a trail of roses. I followed them to a table where there were 24 red roses and a card. I opened the card and it said something like, I feel like I have known you a lifetime and regret that I had actually not. For each Valentine's Day, I would give you a rose to express my love. Give me this chance to make up for lost time and to be your true love on Valentine's Day for the rest of our lives."

Daine's voice lingered off into silence and she suddenly felt embarrassingly self-conscious and exposed. _Vulnerable_. That her secret thoughts had been laid bare. She mentally slapped herself that she had not spoke of a more sophisticated manner which was probably more of Numair's style. She could just imagine him, proposing over a candle light dinner with a huge array of diamond jewellery and probably indulging in some bed activities after that with the grateful recipient.

Daine plodded on and explained unnecessarily, "Well, um, I'm 24 and the 24 roses represented each year where he had not met me yet."

Anna suddenly burst out, "That is so sweet!" She healthily whacked Numair on the shoulder and said, "Well done boy!"

Numair raised an eyebrow and tried not to wince.

"Still," Anna said. "Still, this is quite… unusual of you… _simple_ and sweet… rather than all flashy and showy. I was expecting some proposal on top of the Eiffel Tower."

Numair laughed, "Well, so was I, so was I… But," he turned and looked at Daine, amused, "A proposal comes from the heart and one never knows when love hits them."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"Tough day eh?" Evin asked and propped his hip against Daine's desk.

She dragged her eyes away from her computer screen and leaned back in her chair. "You have no idea," she said wearily. The meeting with Numair's mother had gone relatively well, but Anna insisted that they were to meet up with her more often. To _integrate_ her into the family and know its going-ons. Daine had briefly wondered what was so terrifying about that gentle woman that had sat across her at lunch that cause Numair to put up this pretence to get her off his back.

Evin leaned over and patted Daine on the hand, "Don't worry dear, I'm sure Numair will pick up the dry cleaning bill for Farrant's, Selda's _and_ Mrs. Ohmus' clothes."

Daine gaped at him, "How did you-"

"Know?" Evin grinned. "That you bumped Selda into who spilled coffee on herself and Farrant. You also accidentally pressed the buttons on your remote control and got the toilet to auto-clean itself while Mrs Ohmus was _still_ inside."

Daine blankly nodded her head.

Evin laughed and replied, "As I said, very little things escape the HR department, especially me. Quite a number of people saw what happened in the lobby with Selda. For Mrs. Ohmus, well, she was quite vocal about what happened and complained to the receptionists. Complaints about staff are directed to HR department."

Daine winced, "It was an accident… I really didn't know that I had hit the wrong button. Look at this thing! It's like, with the amount of buttons, I can fly an alien space craft with this thing!"

Evin grinned and reassured her, "Don't worry too much, Numair is a pretty laid back guy, he won't get too worked up over this sort of thing. He is only strait laced when it comes to disturbing him when he is in the midst of some discovery or experiments." Daine had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes at that, promptly recalling Numair's conduct in the morning.

"Onwards to official business," Evin said and straightened up. "I am here to remind you, that this is going to be a crucial period. Tortall Inc has to launch its new line of products pretty soon. Unfortunately, there's much more pressure than usual because of Carthak Corp catching up with Tortall Inc and it's time for some new creations to gain back the consumers' market." He winced, "I can't believe that people will just go for snazzy packaging Carthak Inc comes up with, I find it so gaudy and tacky! But somehow people just like it as a manifestation of wealth. Yelch. So much for being subtle!"

"Anyway," Evin continued. "It is important that Numair not only attends all the pow wow meetings, but also, that he can work at his _best_. The bosses are waiting for some revolutionary product like the flat screen TV that he came up with a few years back. I'm afraid because of such pressing needs, you better buck up a bit. A lot of money is on the line, so HR would be checking on you to make sure that nothing goes wrong."

Daine blanched and nodded.

"End of official message, now to more fun fun things," Evin chirped. "Cheery up! It's only your second day and here's something more scintillating for you to chew on." He placed a thick folder in front of her.

"More readings?" Daine groaned. "On etiquette? Company code?" She looked at him hopefully, "An instruction manual on how to deal with Numair?"

"Ha ha. Nope!" Evin grinned. "Just the latest gossip on Numair's life. Remember I told you about handling Numair's calls? Well, it's time for you to get acquainted with what's happening. Take everything with a pinch of salt. Sometimes the media exaggerates what happens so it's pretty funny some of the things they churn out with. Inside are also the press responses that his PR manager releases."

Daine nodded and pulled the folder towards her. "Alright!" Evin said, "I'm now off to ready the refreshments for the big pow wow… Going to give business to a certain man that Alanna has an interest in."

Daine raised an eyebrow and Evin leaned in, "George. Some worker at DD café. It's awfully exciting. Better than the soaps on tv. Coffee boy v. CEO. Who will win the heart of the fair maiden?"

"Are you sure you are allowed to talk about this?" Daine asked, mildly amused.

"Oh please, don't you know this place is half held up by gossip? Without the winds and air created by rumours, I swear, this structure will just collapse. But don't say that to Numair since he designed it. Besides, I daresay I am one of Alanna's close acquaintances since she keeps visiting Onua and has to get through me. Ta ta!"

Daine opened the hefty file and started to pore through the materials. No wonder Anna had looked so shell-shocked and later, sceptical when Numair first introduced her as his finance. She was starting to see a _certain_ trend among the various ladies that had the pleasure of his company. Judging by his response, Numair seemed rather heck care in the media's scrutiny of him… except… this one particular female.

Daine gazed at the photograph of a laughing Numair with a vivacious blonde. Although she was atypical of his "type", she was somehow _different_… It could be that she was, according to old reports, an old friend of his back in his university days. She was not someone famous or one that he had picked up in some event or another. Sure, she was not averse to showing some flesh and was certainly voluptuous, but she had a certain breeding to her.

Varice Kingsford.

A female that Numair seemed fiercely protective of, judging by the press releases and the uncharacteristic displeasure he had shown of the media invading into their privacy. A small voice in Daine's head said, '_Perhaps he loves her?_'

Daine scoffed, ignoring an unusual twinge in her heart. Numair in love. Quite hard to imagine. He was in a prime of his life, happily sowing wild oats. The telephone rang and Daine cringed. Numair had explicitly told her that he was not to be disturbed at all. Although the receptionists outside had helped screen the first level of callers, Daine had to deal with quite a number of calls. She had to turn away all callers and had some unpleasant people who had no qualms in taking out their frustrations on his hapless secretary – her.

"Hello, Tortall Inc, Numair's office. How can I help you?" Daine parroted.

A rich velvety voice came through the line, "Hello, may I speak to Numair please?"

"To whom am I speaking to?" Daine asked.

"This is Varice. Varice Kingsford."


	9. Chapter 2 Part 3

**BILLIONAIRE SCIENTIST & HIS NEW SECRETARY**

**CHAPTER TWO**

**PART 3**

_Hello! Whew, it's been quite some time since I've updated. If you want me to reply to your questions in your reviews, do sign into or leave an e-mail address, etc._

_Anyways, on the idea of a "sham" engagement, I was not inspired by any particular material, it just popped in my head when I was typing. Most of my ideas just come in that way. But it is in no way original because I think it is the most cliché plot bunny used since the beginning of time. Hee hee. "Sham" engagements and marriages can probably be found in quite a number of novels, especially romance. So, nope, was not inspired by the chocolate pot book, actually, I haven't heard read it yet. :) _

_Thanks very much for the reviews and words of encouragement. Was pleasantly surprised to see them when I finally returned back to the world of the living when my exams ended._

_A bit short, but will update again pretty soon since exams are over._

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

'_Welcome tonight's game show!_

_Your boss and HR department has a bad impression of you._

_It is now the crucial period where your boss needs a conducive environment to work. The grand date when he has to come up with some _**amazing**_ product is two month's time._

_He tells you that he is not to be disturbed under _any_ circumstances. Lo and behold! His apparently old _friend_ calls up! You think that there's a possibility that he may feel strongly for her. _

_So, here's the million dollar question. Do you let her call through?_

_Tick tock._

_Tick tock.'_

"Hello?" the voice gently queried, shaking Daine out of her thoughts.

"Yes," Daine responded automatically. "I am afraid Mr Salmalin is occupied at the moment, would you like to leave a message?" She wrote down the message on her palm top. "Hmm… yes, sure! I will tell him and get him to get back to you."

"Get back to me on what?" a deep voice suddenly asked. Daine jumped and looked up into the eyes of her boss lounging against her desk. Although Evin had earlier leaned against her desk, he just didn't _dominate_ the area around him like Numair did. A small voice in Daine's head said, '_Evin doesn't dominate your thoughts like Numair does_'.

Daine quickly looked down to hide a blush. "Varice Kingsford called to tell you that her e-mail should arrive soon and that she is going overseas for two months."

She was too preoccupied reading from the message that she did not realize that Numair had suddenly went still. Thus, it was to her great surprise when he slammed his hand on the desk and scowled, "Why didn't you put her through?"

Daine blinked, cowed and stunned into silence by the sudden air of sizzling anger around Numair. Their eyes held for a long moment, Daine found it impossible to shift her gaze away, she stuttered, "I, I…"

He growled. "I don't have time for this!" He whipped out his handphone and barked, "Call Varice." Apparently his handphone was voice activated and he put the handphone next to his ear after the sharp command while stalking out of the room.

He brushed by a chagrined Shalene who was holding a stack of papers near the door. "Oh dear," Shalene said. Daine blushed that the receptionist had witnessed what happened. She came over and placed the stack of papers on the desk. "Evin that silly boy forgot to mention was that Varice is Numair's soft spot. Apparently they go waayyy… back in university. Credible sources speculate that she was probably his first… you know… er hum… well, love. But, after university, she hooked up with someone else, went through a string of relationships. She's always kept in contact with Numair, especially in between relationships. That's when she comes around and pays attention to him, before hopping off to the next man."

Daine gaped, "He is her stand-in boyfriend?"

Shalene laughed, "That's _one_ way to put it, though I think she views him as only a close friend. There was no re-enactment of their more than platonic relationship in university, though we, including myself, think that recently, he wants her as a serious girlfriend."

Daine queried, "So she just got out of a relationship?"

"Nope, her last relationship ended last year? So, this has been one of the longest periods of time where she was unattached. They have been communicating more regularly, that's probably why Numair think he has a chance with her and was a bit harsh with you," Shalene explained and patted Daine's hand. "But don't worry, I'm sure it will blow over soon when she contacts him again. Just remember that everything relating to her goes to Numair direct. They mainly communicate by e-mail… In fact, I think her latest e-mail just came in, so it should be in your e-mail sorter programme."

"Thanks," Daine said, and thought, '_Goodness, I can't imagine Numair as some pining lover._'

The telephone rang and Daine picked it up, "Good Morning, Mr Salmalin's office, how may I help you?"

A polished female voice answered, "We have just received the job applications for the research post. Mr Salmalin is supposed to review the candidate's application. Could you please come down to collect it?"

"Sure," Daine responded. "Where should I go to?" She took her pen, ready to scribble down the message on her palm top.

"Please proceed to Level B4, Room 58. They are in the boxes marked RA 3498. Thank you."

Just when Daine put down the phone, Numair stormed in, his face as black as a thunder cloud. Although Daine knew that it was suicidal to talk to Numair at this point of time, she had to remind him of the important research meeting that was in half an hour's time. She could not afford him not going to a meeting again or turning up late, especially when the research meeting was to thrash out ideas for the upcoming product launch.

"Mr Salmalin, you have a research meeting at 2.30pm," Daine said cautiously.

He abruptly stopped and glared at her, reacting as if she had just slapped him. "Very good Ms. Sarrasri, now if you only know how to properly handle calls," he drawled sarcastically. "_Common sense_. Common sense would tell you that if a person tells you she's going _overseas_ for a month, she will be _uncontactable_! If you know that calls cannot be returned easily, you should let it through. Just like if my mother was to call me on her death bed, you let it through and not tell her to call back. Just like if the fire department calls to tell you that my house is on fire, you let them through and not tell them to call back. Common sense woman, _common sense_! Is that too much to ask from you?"

Daine's heart stopped during his rant and she stared at him nervously. Her blue-grey eyes blinked at him and Numair felt like he had just kicked a puppy. He sighed, she looked like such a naïve greenhorn that Onua had picked from off the country side. With strands of brown hair escaping from its restrictive bun and chunky black spectacles that had a tendency to fall down her nose. Dressed in simple work clothes that looked from the thrift shop. No wonder his mother was hard pressed to believe that she was his fiancé.

He stalked off to his office and snapped defensively, "At the same time, you're improving your telephone skills, improve your wardrobe as well, you are representing Tortall Inc."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

After Selda gently put down the phone, she smiled to herself. A timid voice queried, "I thought Level B4 is where they keep the confidential scientific records of their research findings?"

Selda shot a killer glare at the Office Assistant that was nervously clutching some papers for her to sign at the doorway of her office. "And when do you make it a habit to eavesdrop on people's conversation? Is your hearing as bad as your manners? I said level 44."


	10. Chapter 2 Part 4

**BILLIONAIRE SCIENTIST & HIS NEW SECRETARY**

**CHAPTER TWO**

**PART 4**

_Tamora Pierce owns all, naturally. If not I wouldn't be studying so hard. :) Author's note on characters' behaviour can be found below. _

_Can't believe it has been so long since I last updated! If it's any consolation, this update is longer than usual as I wanted to wrap things up for chapter 2. Yup! Next update is chapter 3, wheee! I'm not completely satisfied with my writing for this part, but will leave it as it is as I can't think of how to improve it at the moment. _

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

This was one of the very, _very_ rare times, she wished that she was wrong.

Wrong for thinking that her second day was going to turn out worse than the first day after she had to lug up heavy **boxes** of RA 3498. Plural, not singular. B-o-x-e-s.

Wrong for thinking that Numair was probably going to miss the important meeting. Again.

Wrong for thinking that she was going to get into trouble for that.

Wrong for wishing that she never had a boss like Numair Salmalin.

She laid her throbbing head on her table, everything just _ached_. After Numair stalked into his room, she went down to grab the boxes from the room. To her surprise, the storage room was quite secured - she had to not only pass the security desk, but a number of secured doors before reaching her destination. Perhaps they had placed the applications with some other secured materials. After lugging the boxes up to the office, her palm top had alerted her that the meeting was about to start. She checked the meeting place and was not _too_ surprised that Numair was not there.

Then, the madness started.

She tried searching for him using the palmtop. Strangely enough, it said he was in his office. She checked every single _inch_ of the office, (even under his table though she doubted he would be hiding there) but he was nowhere to be found. She scoured the whole building for him, to no avail. _Even_ the male toilets. Her hesitant embarrassment was soon overcome by her urgency to find Numair, leading her to develop a mild bellow of "Mr Salmalin? Are you there?" Her stress increased when Gareth, one of the board of directors gave her a harsh scolding and an incredulous "how can you lose a **_six foot five_** man?" After three hours of searching, she was finally hauled into the meeting place for a thorough berating. Alanna had intervened and brought her to one side, but it was **_worse_** to see a disappointed Onua telling her to be more vigilant in her duties. Anger, Daine could take.

Guilt was another matter altogether.

Apparently, according to Alanna, Onua was already under some pressure for hiring Daine, who was relatively unqualified and inexperienced for such a prestigious company as Tortall Inc. It was worse that Daine could not seemingly do a "simple" task of reminding Numair to come to the meeting. Twice. In just Two days consecutively.

Daine closed her eyes. She wouldn't be too surprised if Gareth insisted that Onua sent her a letter to send her packing. How she needed the money! She started thinking of how she was going to have to start making ends meet. She probably had to take on more jobs to make up for the relatively lower pay…

Her eyes sprung open as she heard a dreaded voice mildly say, "It's bad enough you can't handle calls, but at the very least, you shouldn't be sleeping on the job."

If looks could kill, Numair would be six-feet under. "You arrogant pompous ass!" She slammed her hands on her desk. "How DARE you lecture me about being professional? How DARE you take that self-righteous tone with me. You, you _irresponsible_ jerk! You're what? Thirty? Forty? But you act like a spoilt brat. You blow up at me for no reason whatsoever! Just because you're angry or unhappy doesn't give you the prerogative to take it out on other people. You told me, TOLD me that you were not to be disturbed. No calls. So I do EXACTLY what you say. But NOOO, you throw a tantrum like some spoilt brat and blame me because of YOUR mistake. Because YOU didn't tell me you wanted her call to come through."

With jerky movements, Daine got to her feet. "I don't know what kind of ivory tower you live in. But us ordinary people have to **_work_** for a living. Money doesn't fall from the sky. I don't have so much money to fritter away on clothes. I have rent, bills, debts to pay. So what if I don't wear branded clothes? They are all just pieces of _cloth_ to cover your body! You think I don't know I'm poor? I do, every time I have to count the coins to pay for my lunch. You _don't_ have to rub it in my face. Heck, I think your suit probably can pay a whole year's rent for me."

She rubbed at her face that had became dampened with tears, not realizing that she was crying tears of frustration, "I may not be some big shot but I'm a PERSON. Just because you're paying me to work for you doesn't give all of you the right to treat me like dirt! I reminded you to go for the important meeting today. You, the _head_ of the team didn't even bother to remember to go. I looked for you, I looked for THREE hours. I am utterly humiliated because not only do your bosses scold me publicly, but also because I had to go through _all_ the male toilets in the building looking for you. I was scolded for being incompetent, useless and getting the job through favours… Heck, I don't even know _why_ I'm even bothering to talk to you. It's not like you give a damn anyway." With that, Daine stormed out of the room, leaving a very shocked Numair.

Her fury brought her stalking out of the building before she realized she had left her purse behind. She furiously rubbed the tears of frustration from her face and muttered, "Great, just great." Her pride would not let her go back into the building looking like such a mess and after such a dramatic exit. She sighed, '_I could use the exercise and time to think… After all, before I had the fortune to meet Miri, I had to walk half an hour to work everyday at the diner… What a humour fate has… To think a mere year ago, the furthest walk I took was from the laboratories to the carpark,' _Daine shook her head, pausing at the road junction that separated the office buildings from the high-end shopping street. Suddenly, she heard a car horn at her and turned to see Numair in a black Jaguar. "Jump in," Numair said. "We have to talk."

"Go away," Daine retorted, limping rather badly because of her blisters.

"Daine, please," Numair said.

"I'm not about to get fired in the car, get your new secretary to send me a letter in black and white, IF you can remember to do it by yourself," Daine responded, and walked faster. Cars started horning behind Numair and he growled in frustration as he drove off.

'_That's the end of that_,' Daine thought. '_I better start looking for another job_.' She groaned, now that the adrenaline had worn off, the pain of the friction between her raw skin and shoes was screaming in her brain. She paused before a display case and took off her shoes, grumpily thinking, '_to hell with image_, _I would like to kick the person who invented hells down the stairs!_' She straightened and a glistening light from the display case caught her eye. Turning to scrutinize its source, she caught her breath. It was a beautiful intricate necklace, made of white gold, sapphires and diamonds. She could imagine that it would look gorgeous on a lady in a flowing bustier ball gown. Hmm… with hair pinning back to show the jewelry to its best effect… Daine shook her head, "Whoever wears it, probably lives in a very different world from me…" After glancing at the price, she blanched, "make that a couple of universes away."

She turned and took a couple steps before being suddenly swept off her feet by strong arms. Daine briefly struggled before a stern "Hold still or I will drop you" interrupted her efforts. She stared in shock at Numair.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded. "Put me down."

"Where do _you_ think you are going, all bare-footed?" Numair asked mildly.

"If you haven't realized, all this is thanks to you. Human beings are never meant to walk in covered heels," Daine growled. "Damn company policy."

Numair frowned. "Speaking of company policy, isn't there one against leaving the office before six?"

"That doesn't apply to me anymore," Daine said primly, trying to ignore the curious gazes of passer-bys. "I am going to get fired anyway. So you can just put me down, and go back to the little world of your own." She started to struggle again.

"Daine," Numair said warningly as her struggles intensified. He sighed and from carrying her bridal style, he flipped her over his shoulder.

She briefly lost her breath. "Numair, put me down! This is so embarrassing!"

"Watch your head," Numair said, as he walked into the cool air of a store. Daine gaped to realize that he had just walked into one of the posh stores that lined the street near Tortall Inc. She turned a deep red. The store was simplistic. It was big, with a very artsy like décor. Unlike a normal clothing store, there were far lesser clothing displayed. There were completely no price tags. Apparently it was a "if you have to ask for the price, you can't afford it" type of store.

"Mr Salmalin, welcome to our humble store," came an enthusiastic male voice.

"Ah, Juan, just the person I was hoping to see," Numair said, speaking as if it was normal that he came in with a woman thrown over his shoulder. He leaned forward to whisper to Juan something inaudible to Daine's straining ears. Suddenly, Daine was put down on her feet.

"Finally!" she scowled before firm hands twisted her to face a stylishly dressed man.

"My name is Juan, my lady. You are most lucky that I, the head designer happened to be in the neighbourhood-" he said.

"Yes, that's good for you, but I have to go," Daine interrupted.

"Not so fast. I won't have you bleeding on my Persian carpets!" he ordered.

Daine looked down guiltily at the plush carpet. She didn't think blood stains would be easy to come off. "I-" she said.

"Shush!" Juan admonished, and clapped his hands as store assistants sprung forward. He took out a measuring tape and started barking orders in French. He measured her briskly and an assistant took photographs of her using a digital camera.

"I am not trying on clothing!" she said, looking around for Numair who seemed to have disappeared.

"We're not asking you in the first place," Juan responded, making Daine go red. "Here, sit down, we want to get a shoe size."

"But -" Daine protested.

"Shush! Shush! Shush!" Juan interrupted and gave her a push into a chair that was suddenly placed behind her by his assistants. While a store assistant took measurements of her feet, Juan held swathes of cloth against her face, muttering to himself, occasionally shaking or nodding. Daine sighed, she was going to strangle Numair if she ever saw him again.

A gentle hand grasped Daine's foot and she winced when something damp gently dabbed against it. She looked down to see Numair kneeling in front of her, with her foot on his lap. A new first aid kit was next to him. With one hand, he held her foot firmly, and with the other, he had a cotton pad with what appeared as antiseptic. She growled at him, "Let _go_ of me."

He didn't even look at her as he said, "Just be a good girl and behave, I will give you a sweet if you stay still and let me tend to your foot."

She scowled at him, "I'm not a child."

"Then don't act like one," he responded mildly and she suffered his administrations with ill-concealed impatience.

After Numair tended her wounds, he placed her feet in a pair of sandals. "What is this?" Daine snorted. "Cinderella? Oh ooohhhh…." She gasped in pleasure as her foot slid into one of the sandals. It was so soft!

Numair shook his head, "Cinderella came with her shoes, remember? Besides, I doubt glass slippers would be adequate for your feet at the moment." He grinned at her, and Daine felt this kick to the heart. '_No wonder he's such a ladies' man_,' Daine thought and fought to stop blushing.

"Mr Salmalin," Juan called and Numair unfolded his lanky body to talk to Juan.

Daine mentally slapped herself, '_What are you thinking Daine? He's just appeasing his guilt! Not like he would be interested in someone like you… He just cooked up the sham engagement lie to ward off his mother, who _is_ rather scary and tenacious…_' She started making her way out of the shop when someone suddenly scooped her up. She sighed and folded her arms, "I can _walk_ you know, so you can put me down. In many parts of the world, this is called kidnapping."

"And in other parts of the world, this is called a sweet gesture," Numair grinned. "Besides, we need to talk."

"Look, Mr Salmalin? There's nothing to talk about. Your superiors are going to dismiss me from my post, so as your **_ex-_**employee, I don't have any obligation whatsoever to listen to you." Daine said with exaggerated patience. "Besides, the solution to the problem lies with a change in **_your_** attitude and not in talking. I have no idea how many times you must have succeeded in explaining yourself out of things, but for your own good -" she patted his cheek at this point. "-you should re-examine and evaluate your conduct. It's clear amazing how you managed to be a top notch inventor without forgetting to turn up at meetings to sell your inventions."

"Harumph," Numair replied, "Watch your head." Daine's breath was knocked out of her when he gently tossed her into his black jaguar.

When he settled himself into the driver's seat, he interrupted her before she could speak, "I'm twenty-nine. Not thirty and _definitely_ not forty."

She rolled her eyes at him, "Is this what it's about?"

"And you're twenty-four. Single, and surprisingly naïve and innocent to the ways of men. With an adorable tendency to blush. Been working since after high school," Numair continued and reiterated to her word-for-word of what was on her CV.

Daine snorted, "You have a good memory, so what?"

Numair looked at her seriously, "I do see you as a person Veralidaine Sarrasri. Though Onua had eventually picked you independently without any input from me, she showed me the list of short-listed candidates. It _does_ matter to me who potentially becomes my secretary-"

"Uh huh… Must have regretted that I did not turn out blonde, blue-eyed and curvaceous," Daine interrupted.

She could hear his smile as she looked towards the door, searching for the handle, "Now now, you don't need to put down yourself so, I'm sure with a bit of prettying up you'll look good as well. As they say, there isn't such a thing as an ugly girl, but a lazy girl."

She was making a break for it, and tried to open the door. "You locked it!" she glared at him accusingly. "Let me out now!"

"_Not_ till you hear me out," Numair replied calmly.

"Let me out," Daine demanded. "_Now_. Before I scream for help."

"No," Numair responded firmly.

She opened her mouth to scream and was halfway cut off when Numair suddenly covered her mouth.

With.

His.

Mouth.

She blinked in surprise, as warmth spread through her veins. Numair broke off his kiss and looked at her in heavy-lidded pleasure, "I figured that would keep you silent for a while."

She gaped at him and his audacity.

He took her hands and said, "Look, it's, it's…" he flushed and plunged on determinedly, "I'm sorry. You're right, I shouldn't have taken out my anger on you. My conduct, it's nothing against you personally. I'm just someone who likes to work independently. I was happy as a free-lancing inventor, till Jonathan came along to persuade me to enter into a joint venture with him, Tortall Inc. He had the vision, I had the brain power he said. I'm not used to this rigid structure, this bureaucracy of meeting after meeting _after_ meeting. My passion is pursuit of knowledge, I just get caught up in my world as many can testify when I'm onto something. I want to make it clear that I _didn't_ deliberately miss meetings just to spite you."

"Sex," Daine blurted.

"What?" Numair yelped.

"I, I mean, you miss meetings because of sex too," Daine spluttered.

"Oh! You mean the first morning you met me? No, I went to bed _alone_, I just overslept," Numair said quickly. "Not to say I'm a monk, but, when I'm making a break-through for an invention, _nothing_ can pull me away. Not any woman, friend or family member. I'm sure you're bound to hear of all the urban legends of me going without sleep and food for days."

Daine nodded, Evin had been most eloquent on that! "Unfortunately," Numair said. "It's true, those urban legends. But that was just _once_, or maybe twice. Alright, or maybe more. But it resulted in the flat screen monitor. Which is why probably Jonathan stopped Alanna from nagging or scolding me about it too much. Made Tortall Inc's stocks go up more than 200."

Daine sighed, "Look, this is all well and good. I'm glad that you're not doing this out to spite me. But things are not going to change. You're just going to jam the palmtop again and send crazy signals so that your next secretary can't find you. Continuing your usual ways and I'm out of job anyway. Just… just remember this when you get your next secretary." She bit her lip, '_Damn it Daine, hold yourself together. No reason to suddenly feel maudlin now that you're out of job and your ex-boss is being nicer to you out of guilt_.'

"Let me show you something," Numair said suddenly and started driving out of the lot he had parked in. Curious, Daine watched her surroundings as he sped by. Daine sighed as she recognized Tortall Inc and he drove into the underground VIP carpark.

"Numair, after today the board is going to fire me. So it's no point dragging me back here. Besides, I'm a complete mess," Daine said exasperatedly.

"Nonsense," Numair responded, he got out of the car and pulled a reluctant Daine to her feet. He straightened out her clothing, neatening her collar and produced a comb out of no where to brush her hair. He grinned at her, "Slight of hand is one of my hobbies. Makes me very popular among my nieces and nephews." The feel of him combing her hair was… nice… and she had to fight the urge to purr.

He gently wiped her face with a damp towelette and remarked, "Be glad you don't wear mascara or much make-up. You should change your spectacles though. Have you thought of contacts?" He was about to remove her spectacles when Daine said sharply, "Don't, I'm blind as a bat without them." She shrugged out of his reach.

"Well then," Numair said. "I'm about to show you something that you have to keep to yourself till your deathbed."

"Uh huh," Daine snorted.

"Restrain your enthusiasm," Numair responded wryly, "I almost cannot bear it." He took her hand firmly and towed her to the lift. Her whole body tingled at the contact and she could feel herself blushing. She was not a very touchy-feely person by nature, and yet Numair had touched her more today than she had allowed her previous boyfriends in the first month of the relationship. Oh heck! She did not allow kisses on the first date and she and Numair were not even dating!

She kept her eyes on the floor as Numair quickly dragged her through the office, past a bemused Shalene. They stopped in his office and Daine sighed, "So what are you going to show me?"

She gulped as she heard Numair locking the door behind her. He went around her and leaned against his desk. "What I have to show you is something I don't show other people."

'_Oh dear, please don't tell me he's a pervert and he's going to flash me…_' Daine thought, looking around his office for a weapon. His office was efficiently designed. There was no artsy or ornamental items here as there were in the reception area. His table dominated the room, a sleek contraption with an impressive length of 3 metres. It was even bigger than Daine's single bed at home. Behind the desk were floor-to-ceiling cupboards. The middle portion of the cupboards comprised of exposed bookshelves. A preliminary scan of the materials revealed an impressive collection of scientific textbooks and journals. Natural light came in through the floor-to-ceiling windows that flanked the desk.

"Daine?" Numair said, waving his hand in front of her.

'_Thank goodness he's not waving anything else at me,_' Daine thought and replied, "Yes?"

Numair looked at her suspiciously and continued, "As I was saying, I did not block or interfere with your palmtop's tracking system. How it works is that it tracks what was the last door I had opened with my card."

"So you snuck out of here on somebody else's card?" Daine guessed.

"No…" Numair replied, "But that _is_ quite a good suggestion..." He strode forward to take her hands, "Promise me that what I tell you will be kept a secret... Just between you and me..."

Daine's eyes blinked at his sudden closeness, his unique scent -a mix of clean soap and spices- enveloped her. "I, I won't tell..." she promised.

He tugged her hand as he led her towards the shelves of books. He raised his left hand, while his right hand still firmly clasped Daine's hand. Daine watched his long tanned fingers brush across the books. They paused at a particularly thick volume of "_The Logic of Scientific Discovery"_, written by Karl R. Popper. Numair pushed the book inwards and a small screen unfolded itself from the space previously occupied by the book. His fingers hovered over the keypad, hesitating.

"I guess this is where you type in your password huh?" Daine said, breaking the awkward pause. "If you want, I'll turn around." She turned her body, tugging her hand out of his. Numair gave a muffled oath and his right hand grasped her waist and spun her around. He pulled her next to him, tucked against his side.

Numair sighed, "It's not that I don't want you to know my password, but it's just... embarrassing... that's all. When it comes to passwords like these, where I use them everyday, everyday I type it in... each time I type it in, the password just runs around in my head... so I tend to use... names that are close to my heart."

He blushed. He actually blushed. Numair, the sophisticated connoisseur of women was _blushing_. Daine found it awfully adorable. She stopped herself from giggling; she hardly thought Numair would be pleased to find that she found him adorable. Suave, yes. Adorable like a cute puppy or bunny, no.

"Surely it's not Bubbles from the Power puff girls?" Daine ventured a joke.

Numair looked at her, surprised and laughed. "No, no," he said. "As adorable as she is, no, it is not. It's... Well, I guess you know her name already..." Daine watched his fingers as he started to type in the password "V-A-R-I-C-E."

Daine felt a sharp pang in her heart. '_Stop it Daine!_' she scolded herself. '_He's your _boss_. Nothing else. His personal life is his own business. Who he sees, he dates or sleeps with..._' She bit her lip, then forced herself to sound light as she said, "I already know her, so it's not exactly that surprising."

His grip around her waist tightened a bit, then he said, "as you already know, it's a bit of a sensitive issue..." he gave a self-depreciating laugh."If you want to know more, you have to wait till I am really drunk. It's awfully embarassing for a fine specimen like myself, well-educated and all, to hold a school boy crush after so many years..." He shook his head and looked at her, "You and your god-blest eyes, just looking at me, it's so easy to talk, with words dropping off my tongue. Doing what many hardened negotiators were unable to do."

A portion of the cupboard swung inwards, Numair gently pulled her through the opening. The door silently shut behind them and Daine looked around with unabashed curiosity. It was... messy. Stacks of books, files, loose papers were scattered around the room. She could see that this was where Numair really _worked_. His computer was a haphazard collection of different screens. There seemed to be different programmes running on each of them.

"Appearances can be deceiving, you know," Numair smiled. Daine nodded, ignoring a stab of guilt. She knew that _too_ well...

He flung his arm out, "This, my dear lady, is my humble abode where I work. When we first moved into this building, I was given free reign as to how to design this level. I am good friends with the architect and had this built with a small unknown construction company. This is my last place of sanctuary, to escape from all the buzz and bother."

"Wouldn't Alanna and the others know?" Daine asked, curious. "I'm sure they must have some sort of floor plan to rig up the security devices."

"Nope," Numair said. "Let's just say... their floor plans... are soft copies... and I have a talent for twiddling." He gave a mischievous grin, which made Daine's heart twitch. "At the moment, in this company, let's just say, it's just you and me who knows... I normally lock the office doors, so when someone wants to see me," he pointed to a screen which showed the layout of the floor plan. "I can tell and I'll go outside to my nice pristine office. So I hadn't really the occasion or need to tell people about my secret hide-out."

"Then why didn't you respond to my calls? And couldn't you tell by the screen thing that I was pounding at your door?" Daine demanded, starting to feel agitated.

Numair looked sheepishly as he said, "I was in a bad mood and had switched off all communications, so I really didn't know you were calling me. Even if you were banging on my main office door, I was too distracted to hear it through the wall. Look Daine.." he took a deep breath and continued, "I'm sorry I've been such a jerk. Please just give me another chance, you'll find working for me a lot better from now on."

"It's a nice sentiment, but I think the board of directors probably decided to fire me," Daine sighed.

"Doesn't matter," Numair said seriously. "Just come for work tomorrow, I don't think they'll fire you. Besides, there's no harm in coming."

Daine sighed, "Alright, I'll come. I need to come back tomorrow to pack my stuff anyway and settle some administrative things if I'm dismissed." She smiled with wry humour, "I guess it's good I'm being paid pro rata, easier to calculate my wages."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Daine sat at her desk, deciding to at least leave things in order if she had to leave. Numair had left the office, presumably to find the group of people he was supposed to meet earlier. She rotated her shoulders slowly, it had been a _long_ day. Scanning through the e-mail sorter, she filtered e-mails that were to reach Numair and to which inbox and category. She didn't have to reject much e-mails as the other secretarial aides had the unfortunate tedious task of doing so. Adrenaline raced through her as she came across _the_ e-mail.

From Varice.

She knew that she should just have directly sent it to Numair without looking, but curiosity overwhelmed her. She hoped that Varice was not too unduly upset that Daine had not put Numair through this morning. '_It's not as if I'm going to continue working here anyway_,' she thought and clicked on the e-mail.

_...Heya big guy,_

_tried to call you today, but you were busy. Should have known better as it's your usual season of trying to come up with a new line of products. Bad timing I know. Well, I know this is sudden, but I've met someone. Orzone. He's the CEO of Carthak Inc. He's fabulously rich, powerful and everything that a girl can even dream of. He's like my prince charming! Swept me off my feet and we're off to Europe today for two months, visiting his extensive array of properties and villas. Can't wait to try out my new bikini that I shopped with you that day. Hahaha. _

_I guess I should tell you face-to-face, especially after that kiss we had last week. But I know you wouldn't read too much into that. _Nobody_ would. I was high on alcohol and carried away in the spirit of the moment. But I must say your skills have drastically improved since our first time. Heh heh. wink! Anyway, will call you again when I return._

_XXX Varice, your little vixen always..._

'_That witch!_' Daine thought, incensed, recalling on what Shalene has told her and Numair's reaction to her name. '_She should know that Numair feels strongly for her! Leading him along like that. And now hopping off with his _competitor_! My gosh! She should know better than to drop this sort of bombshell on him at such a crucial time when he needs to concentrate on his work! I am just so tempted to just tell her off!_'

She took a deep breath, her eyes narrowing. She had to calm down. She got up and started to pace. '_Breathe Daine, breathe_,' she told herself. Thoughts raced through her mind and she fought the ugly dark feelings that were creeping up on her. '_First things first_,' Daine thought and plunked herself in front of her computer again. '_My final gift to Numair. He's better off without that witch. So it's a good thing. But based on how he reacted at her name and how that I didn't put her call through, he's going to take this very, _very_ badly. Makes no difference whether he knows this now or later. Later would be better, as revenge would be sweet if he could come up with a better line of products than Carthak Inc. Besides… I won't be around when she gives him the grand call._'

She looked at Varice's "new" e-mail that she had edited with grim satisfaction.

_...Heya big guy,_

_tried to call you today, but you were busy. Should have known better as it's your usual season of trying to come up with a new line of products. Bad timing I know. Well, I know this is sudden, but I'm off to Europe today for two months. Can't wait to try out my new bikini that I shopped with you that day. Hahaha. Anyway, will call you again when I return._

_XXX Varice, your little vixen always..._

'_Thanks to this software, I can change the sender's e-mail address so it'll seem like it was from her. I guess it helps to be in such a high-tech company._' Daine thought and tried to appease a small guilty nagging voice. '_Besides, I'm _not_ changing the content, I'm just selectively deleting some sentences._' The previous e-mail's contents ran through her mind and her fingers tightened over the mouse.

With that, she clicked sent and the "new" e-mail went to Numair's personal inbox.

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_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**_

_Ah well, felt like writing a bit on the characters' behaviour and to provide some insight into their actions. Optional reading to understand characters a bit better._

**Daine's Silence**

_On Daine's silence towards Numair's treatment, she's silent due to combination of factors. _First,_ she's stunned at Numair's behaviour, understandably, since it is not very reasonable. I think Numair can be scary and imposing when he wants to be, considering that he can be physically intimidating. _

Second,_ she needs the job. I think the reality is that for most people, even if their bosses are twits, they will not be out rightly rude or snap back. Especially at their first week of work. Most likely, people will just go complain/whine about their unreasonable bosses to their friends/spouse/family, etc. Something like how we would react to unreasonable teachers, except that for the workplace, A LOT more is at stake. Not only livelihood, but promotion, work environment, etc. _

Third and most importantly,_ I think (personal opinion) it is not in Daine's character to instinctively slap back at people, she's not an "Alanna". She's more placid and it takes quite a bit to provoke her. If it's some sensitive matter, like if you were to mistreat an animal in front of her, that's another issue altogether. But as a person, she's not too sensitive about people criticizing her, she definitely doesn't have an ego/pride problem. She's also a bit insecure at the moment, like she was in _Wild Magic_. Hence, when people criticize her, she tends to "shrink" into herself, pondering if it's true. Of course, later when she matures throughout the books, she takes such criticisms in her stride. (I guess she has to, since she has to endure quite a bit of scrutiny and remarks from her association to Numair and all sort of animals/immortals in the books.) Anyway, Daine does have her limits and as noticed, she finally snaps in this part and talks back to Numair._

**Numair's behaviour**

_He's being a bit OOC and coming across as mean and unfair to Daine. Hopefully it's within logical reasoning. In this fic, he's feeling somewhat awkward towards Daine because he's unused to dealing with such an "innocent". _So far_, his mean behaviour doesn't originate from an intention to be mean or nasty. Rather, he (rather childishly perhaps) takes out his frustration on Daine when she doesn't put the much awaited call from Varice through and she attracts his ire when she attempts to "nag" him when he is in such a black mood. Something like how some people would just be unreasonable and easily upset when they are already in such a bad temper. _

More importantly_, his conduct can be attributed to him covering up his embarrassment/awkwardness. E.g. he snaps at Daine at the last part and walks away because he suddenly felt a bit bad about what he was doing. Hence, to cover up what he felt and to break off from such a situation (instead of waiting for or pressing her to reply to his question), he gives a rather rude remark but walks off._

_Anyway, it was intended as a build-up to Daine snapping in this part and this marks a turning point in their relationship. In this part, Daine's explosion caused him to realise what a total ass he has been. Hence, he is trying to make amends to her. Also, SPOILER ALERT, DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS - It also gives Daine the impetus to try and maintain their suddenly good relationship. Thus, carrying out the e-mail charade to avoid their relationship from degenerating back to where it was before he apologized. -END SPOILER._


	11. Chapter 3 Part 1

**BILLIONAIRE SCIENTIST & HIS NEW SECRETARY**

**CHAPTER THREE**

**PART ONE**

_In case some have not realised, please note that you can check my profile page for my comments as to when I will update and such. Thanks!_

_I decided to up the rating to T for safety because I realize that a lot of TP fans are younger than other fan groups, so more warning is probably needed. This update was surprisingly more difficult to write than the usual and I hope it's not too long-winded. It's different from the snippet I had posted on the blog as I decided to beef it up and flesh out Numair's character more._

_Thank you Dolphindreamer for pointing out the grammatical errors, I have amended them accordingly._

_Thank you for all your reviews! If you want me to respond to your question or query, please leave me some way to contact you. Especially appreciate those that pointed out errors, as I often write and update in a hurry (Special thanks to Tortall's Resident Wildchild! Sharp eyes! I honestly would never be able to spot the mistake if you didn't tell me!). Ankhet, I don't mind if you point out errors I have made. Indeed, I would be very appreciative if you would, as I always look for ways to improve the fic. Admittedly, I often just update without reading it again once through. –looks guilty- _

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_**HIGH SOCIETY: GOSSIP COLUMN**_

_Dear Readers,_

_At High Society, I am not an advice columnist, but I have received a copious amount of mail concerning personal problems and anecdotes. An interesting observation I have made from the common men and celebrities is that no matter how much we may have gone through in life we will always remember the FIRST. _

_The First will be special. _

_The First will be treasured and engraved in our memories. _

_After the First, the Second, the Third, just simply pales into the distance, a vague memory. Ask anyone, when was the first time they kissed, they can probably recall with great fondness perhaps and regale with greater detail than necessary. Ask them about the second, third, one will often be rewarded with a sheepish "I can't remember", or "I think it was…". This First label is most commonly attached to one's First Kiss or one's First Love. I must admit that I myself am not immune to this "first" syndrome. Nor does Numair Salmalin as it appears. A very much open secret that his First Love was the lovely and vivacious Varice Kingsford. Although they were university sweethearts, they never got together. However, they never got together with other people as well._

_But then again, it is most commonly quoted that:_

"_A man wants to be a woman's first love, while a woman wants to be his last."_

_It must be noted that the male and female perspective of this quote is not mutually exclusive. Who says that one cannot be the first AND the last? According to a recent poll, the number of women who wanted to be Numair's "last" love is more than 500,000._

_XXX Lady Dove_

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_Daine & Miri's Apartment…_

"Lady Dove is right," Daine muttered to herself, perched on the stool next to the kitchen counter. "First and last is not mutually exclusive. That is the first and _last_ time Mr Salmalin is kissing me. Idiot!"

"First and last what?" Miri asked, coming into the small kitchen.

"Oh nothing," Daine said, and quickly drank her tea.

Miri glanced at what Daine was reading, "Ahh… Feeling upset that Numair has a first love? It's kind of sweet actually."

Daine rolled her eyes, but held her tongue, thinking '_If only people really knew how mean Varice can be in luring and stringing Numair along like that! I don't know if she's being mean or just selfish, but objectively, any idiot should know that sort of behaviour is unbecoming._' Out loud, she said, "Rubbish! He doesn't interest me at all. He's just my boss." She bit her lip upon suddenly remembering that he may not be her boss any more and added lightly, "Anyway, this job may not be to my liking, so I may switch to another place."

"What?" Miri screeched. "It's just your third day, surely the job ain't that bad? Or…" She sat eagerly in front of Daine with a bowl of cereal, "Did something happen between you and McDreamy? Hmm hmm?"

Daine spluttered. "No, no, _nothing_ happened." She looked innocently at Miri. "Why would it? He's just my boss," she laughed and tried to keep her tone light, "Anyway, _look_ at me, I'm not someone that Numair would even take a passing fancy. I would be the _last_ woman on earth he would have romantic interest in." With that, she went into her bedroom to change. That was the _truth_, but still, somehow Daine felt strangely hurt by it. But oh why oh _why_ did she remember the warmth of his embrace and how good he tasted?

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_Numair's Apartment…_

"Salmalin," Numair muttered to himself, "What in the hell were you thinking?" He raked his left hand through his hair as he resisted the urge to smack his head against the wall. The exact same wall that he had just thrown his alarm clock against. He rolled onto his stomach, sprawled across his enormous bed.

He felt bad.

He felt _guilty_.

This was an emotion he _rarely_ felt, especially with regard to members of the fairer sex. He definitely had more than adequate skills to satisfy females in _every_ single way – emotionally, mentally, physically… Most of the females he mingled with were sufficiently sophisticated (or sometimes Alanna said sufficiently mercenary) to appreciate what he could give and knew how to appease him. Their feminine mannerisms always triggered the innate gentleman lurking within him. Yet, somehow when it came to Daine who probably had no inkling of how to wield her feminine gifts and in his efforts to cover up his embarrassment, he had treated her rather callously.

_For crying out loud_, although he was no stranger to feminine appreciation of his nude physique, it was plain embarrassing to be caught in the almost buff by a colleague. And he certainly was _not_ going to explain to the magazine crew that he received the scratch on his face because he had hugged her. He knew very well that some prickly members of the board was not going to be happy that his new secretary had injured his face before a publicity campaign and the possible scandal that would result if that came out. He could just imagine the headlines screaming "_Numair Salmalin accosts his new secretary on first day of work_". She would be fired immediately to avoid any speculation of a torrid boss-secretary affair.

He groaned and rolled nearer to the edge of the bed. Spare him from innocents! He had no idea how to handle them. He made a mess of yesterday and how he dealt with the situation. Resorting to very un-Numair like behaviour in forcibly grabbing her, oh heck, some may even call it abduction. And _why_ did he _kiss_ her? It would only serve him right if she started doodling his name in hearts "Mrs Numair Salmalin".

She was a bewildering puzzle that he was trying to figure out. An odd specimen that treated him like no other female had before. Admittedly, most of the women he knew had sufficient experience or emotional quotient to deal with males, whether platonically or otherwise. Daine had this aura of innocence and vulnerability, but was a feisty little baggage when pushed. The things she had said to him… with such frankness that was shocking, but refreshing. When he ran into her at the office, he thought that the worst way she would retaliate was to berate him like she did in his bedroom. Hence, he was more than just shocked when silent tears slid down her eyes. It was a sharp jab to his heart and was more effective than a knee in the groin. He felt like he had kicked a puppy and a strong accompanying desire to compensate for his wrong.

Numair heaved himself out of bed and walked towards the bathroom. The bathroom was an open concept, with no walls partitioning it from the bedroom. Only the toilet bowl was hidden from sight behind a discreet panel in the wall. Otherwise, the huge bath tub that doubled as a Jacuzzi, the two marble sinks with accompanying mirrors and other accessories lay in plain sight the moment anyone walked through the bedroom door. _Perhaps_ he should be grateful that he was not showering when Daine charged into his bedroom.

He turned on the shower head and braced himself against the wall, letting the hot water run over him. _Daine…_ she was a bit of an oddity, and did not neatly fit into any of his normal categorization of females.

To him, females that he regularly interacted with came in three categories – family, friend material, girlfriend potential. Each group was accorded different treatment. Family, of course, was the easiest. Female relatives were to be benevolently treated, indulged and protectively looked after. Or perhaps _too_ protectively looked after, he still remembered Alicia cringing at how he had coldly scrutinized the mere slip of a boy who had brought her home from a movie.

Girlfriend potentials, well. Being girlfriend material doesn't necessarily mean that he _would_ hook up with them or anything would result from the relationship. They were just females that he can appreciate… aesthetically and this often resulted in a rather mutually casual flirtatious mode of communication. They all tended to be sophisticated and mature women who knew the rules of the game- hence, they didn't take things too seriously and often playfully flirted back. Those who… enjoyed his affections would be indulged for that momentary period that they could snag his attention.

His female friends tended to be outgoing and humorous. He joked around with them, enjoyed having long conversations with them and generally acted like a brother or good drinking buddy. With him acting as their confidante, sometimes jokingly (and occasionally _not_ jokingly) offering to help beat up their ex. Friendships were strictly platonic and he never, _never _crossed the line. Having vicariously witnessed how sex can muck up a perfectly good friendship has made him determined never to let a friendship develop to something more. No matter how mature both parties are, he found that there would still be that awkward memory between them and things would never be quite the same way again.

When he met a female, _bam_, she was instantly and safely tucked under a category. However, Daine just didn't _fit_ in any of the categories. She was not family. Yet, she just didn't fit under friend or girlfriend material. She was not someone whom he would joke around with nor flirt with. Distinguishing between friends and girlfriend material was mostly based on gut feeling. His head screamed that she was _not_ a girlfriend material, as she was _not_ the kind of female that he was ordinarily attracted to. Yet he just didn't get this gut feeling that she was a friend material. He shook his head, she was friend material.

F-r-i-e-n-d.

He certainly could not imagine himself having a more than platonic relationship with her. His head eagerly agreed with him, but why oh _why_ did he remember how soft her lips felt or how _good_ she felt against him?

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

_Tortall Inc, Onua's Office…_

"Oh my, that is quite romantic," Onua remarked, grinning at Alanna whose cheeks were the same colour as her infamous red hair.

"_Romantic_?" Alanna protested, "That man took advantage of me! Kissing me when my arms were full with all the food from DD he was delivering."

"Remind me to order in from DD more often," Onua joked under her breath, taking a sip of her coffee.

Alanna deliberately ignored Onua and tried to change the topic, "I'm quite surprised at the turn of events concerning Daine. Yesterday Gary and a few other members of the board were quite determined to get rid of Daine, because Numair's behaviour seemed to worsen. Especially since this is a crucial period of time that Numair must try and come up with a new line of products in time for the launching date." She leaned forward to take a piece of flaky pastry from the DD box on Onua's desk. "It's been quite a record breaking day. Daine was supposed to have the dubious honour of being the secretary with the shortest tenure at Tortall Inc. But, lo and behold, she had the honour of being the first secretary that Numair had pushed his weight for."

Onua grinned, "Though Numair hardly throws his weight around, but when he does, it really makes an impact!"

"I'll say!" Alanna mumbled, through a mouthful of pastry. "Not only did he unofficially over-rule the board members in firing Daine, but he unilaterally threw in a healthy clothes budget and pay raise for her. I heard he installed some sort of clothes rack for her in the office with some clothing of her size. We've been all commanded by him to _act_ as if all his secretaries all along had this clothing perk. Though I wonder whether she will swallow the lie, especially when some of the clothes are worth _more_ than her annual wages!" She swallowed her pastry, "But I can't exactly fault him, as she does have to present a good image to his visitors and doesn't seem to have the means to do so."

Onua nodded and obligingly handed Alanna the serviette that she was trying to reach for. "Thanks," Alanna responded, then shook her head, "But what amazes me the most is that he did all of this before eight-thirty **_am_** this morning before she came in for work!"

Onua smirked, "I told you so, I told you so. She's going to be good for him."

Alanna raised an eyebrow, "Don't tell me you think he's falling for her? She's not even the right colouring or body shape!"

Onua rolled her eyes, but grinned, "No, if I intended for him to fall for his secretary, I would hire Varice. But… I think our dear Mr Salmalin is beginning to develop a soft spot for Daine."

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_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** _

_Hee hee, though it's a modern fic that is unrelated to Tortall plot line, I couldn't help but draw a parallel between Alanna's first kiss in the book and her first kiss with George in this fic. ;)_

_I put Daine's scene before Numair's scene because it was related to Lady Dove's article although originally I had put it after Numair's soliloquy. On the time lag, well, Daine has to take public transport to work during rush hour, while Numair conveniently stays at the workplace, so he definitely has a head start over her. Some of the stuff he has done was already in process from the day before. For example, the purchase of clothes was already completed the previous day as he already had this in mind when he dragged her into the shop._


	12. Chapter 3 Part 2

**BILLIONAIRE SCIENTIST & HIS NEW SECRETARY**

**CHAPTER THREE**

**PART TWO**

_Thank you for your kind patience and all your reviews! I have edited factual mistakes in my previous updates with regard to the plotline. _

_**Ages**_

_Ignore the books, I am not keeping to those ages or age differences. Daine is 24 years old. On Numair, Alanna and Jonathan's ages, etc, I am undecided. But I guess they would be in their early thirties._

_**Time Line**_

_Numair has 2 months to come up with the new product. One month has passed since Daine started working for Numair, so Numair has one month left to come up with something. Varice is only supposed to come back after the product launch that is why Daine decided to let Numair find out for himself then._

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Daine walked towards Tortall Inc buildings, her skirt flapping gently against her legs. She was mulling over the _enigma _called Numair Salmalin. He appeared to be on his best behaviour for the past month and indulged in this, this _queer_ habit of getting her little things now and then. Like some weird crow bringing knick knacks that caught his fancy to his nest. Of course it was nothing valuable or expensive, for she _would_ have thrown it back in his face. No, it was little things.

Insignificant in monetary value, but… strangely kinda… well… _cute_… and thoughtful even.

It started off rather subtly. He brought back leftover food from his various meetings, no point letting the food go to waste right? Then it moved to snacks on sale ("it was three-for-the-price-of-one-and-I-can't-finish"), graduated to unusual food and knick-knacks ("I thought you might want to try this"). Slowly, it evolved to him just passing it to her without a word or leaving it on her desk. Perhaps he found it tiring to come up with excuses or perhaps because she stopped protesting. She was still wondering _how_ he discovered what food she liked, when he had introduced her to a whole palate of tastes that she had never encountered before. (Tortall Inc _really_ pampered their precious scientists during this period) At first, he got her a range of different food, but soon, he seemed to realise what were her favourites. He still got her unusual cuisine, but he seemed to know what she liked and disliked. She wondered how he found out that - was it because he occasionally hung around her table checking documents and saw her attack her favourite sour-cream and onion potato chips first and leaving the rest for later? She can't quite imagine him looking at her dustbin for the onions she threw away from the taco. Or going outside to talk to the other staff to see what food was left over from a food hamper from a client that he passed to her. Somehow, he just knew, he stopped giving her dark chocolates (which she disliked for its bitterness) and concentrated on milk and white chocolate. He even brought back a mutton burger without onions. (She knew he purposely ordered one without onions because of the scribbled instructions of the restaurant on the wrapper.)

He was nice, yet all this niceness was beginning to make her nervous. For once in a long long while, life was getting to be better, almost good even. Her generous pay check from Tortall Inc and money earned from tuition was going a long way in repaying her debt to Miri.

The clothes, oh the clothes. A gentle smile played around her lips as she remembered how she had first stroked the clothing when she first had the wardrobe to herself. It has been such a long time since she had such wonderful clothing. Even then, the clothes she wore in the past couldn't compare to the current ones. She blanched when she saw the brand names, and absolutely _refused_ to check how much it was. When she first wore them, Numair actually did a double-take and told her she looked… acceptable. Blah, he was probably stunned that she had some sort of a figure – something which was buried under all the poor cutting of her previous clothing. Like the current woollen dress she was wearing. Awfully practical and warm, but made her look like some matron aunt. She felt a mild satisfaction at his surprise, but curbed any impulse to further dress up.

She frowned thoughtfully, '_If Evin didn't tell me that the clothes budget was a perk that senior executives at Tortall Inc enjoyed once they were permanently retained, well, I would almost think that Numair bought those clothes to sooth his guilt._ _Ha! As if I would accept charity like that. Harrumph, thinking that money will help make things better. Like I'm a mistress or something where a pretty trinket would easily put me in a better mood. Still, I only wear those clothes at work since they were _meant_ for work._'

She gazed at her reflection in the tinted glass of the building and sighed. '_It is really such a challenge to dull down my look now that Numair has practically all but ordered me to use the clothing in the office._' She tilted her head this way and that, her minimal dull make-up made her look rather bland and devoid of colour. The blue-grey eyes that would vividly light up her face were safely hidden under thick lenses. A minimum of foundation and a boring lipstick from a convenience store. She remembered fondly of the days she had preened and dressed up, enjoying appreciative glances from… She shook her head, that was all in the past now, and she had to move on to the future…

"Oomph!" A stranger collided with Daine and the document bag he was holding fell onto the sidewalk.

"Oh I am so so sorry!" Daine immediately apologised and bent down to retrieve the bag. The stranger must have had the same idea, for when she straightened up, she found that he had similarly bent down. Thankfully, he was tall and they avoided a direct head-on-chin collision. Instead, she had smeared her lipstick from his collar (and to her great embarrassment) to his cheek. She jumped back and her spectacles, which were hanging precariously on her nose from her brush with him, fell off her nose.

She had a chance to inspect the stranger as he immediately retrieved the spectacles. He was tall, with short cropped black hair and was as Miri would put it, decent eye candy. Daine held out her hands to take back her spectacles, "I am sorry, I shouldn't have stopped in the middle of the sidewalk."

He looked her in the eyes and a smile slowly spread on his face. "Blue-grey."

"What?" Daine asked quizzedly.

"You have blue-grey eyes, quite uncommon for brunettes," he said, smiling engagingly. "Don't you know that if a brunette child has parents with blue and brown eyes, he would inherit brown eyes. It's a more dominant gene."

"Oh," Daine responded, amused. "I guess we're a dying breed."

He smiled and instead of putting her spectacles in her hand, to her surprise, he fitted them back onto her face. "You should really ditch your spectacles and go for contacts. You have really amazing eyes."

"Ah… sorry about the shirt," Daine replied, unwilling to be dragged into a mild flirtation with this strange man. "I will pay for the cleaning expenses. Just…" she dug out a piece of paper and wrote down her business contact number and name. "call me and I will handle the bill." She was tempted to write down her address or business address for him to send the bill to, but she wasn't too comfortable with the idea in case he had stalker tendencies. At least with a contact number, she could screen the calls or worse come to worse, change the number.

"The shirt," he examined it briefly. "Quite an unusual shade of lipstick. Well, it is alright, there is no need, but…" he took the paper, grinning. "I would like your number, thanks."

Daine looked at him incredulously, torn between being charmed or insulted, forgetting how dowdy she looked, "Please don't tell me this was a weird pick-up tactic."

He grinned, "No no, in fact, I am due for an important meeting soon. Meeting the big boss. Wouldn't be a great impression if I went in with a ruined shirt."

So feeling charmed it was and a great deal of contrite. "Oh dear," Daine apologised. "Why don't you buy a new shirt? I will foot the bill."

"No worries," he said. "I will give a go at cleaning it, worse come to worse, I will beg or borrow. Well, I better go."

"Alright, good luck for your meeting, err…" Daine said.

"Kaddar, the name is Kaddar," Kaddar supplied. "I have a feeling we will meet again very soon."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Her brief collision with Kaddar made her nearly late. Fortunately, as she was using the private elevators, she didn't have to fight with the crowd, but still, she did an undignified sprint across the lobby. She ran a hand through her hair, a nervous habit, forgetting that she had tied it back into a bun. Her careless rake through the hair undid some of her hard work in taming her wild hair and some strands of hair fell loose from the bun. '_Whew_,' Daine thought. '_It's stuffy in the elevator, the woollen material of my dress is not helping_.' She undid the first few buttons of her dress and tugged at it to allow the air to cool herself.

As her luck would have it, she nearly collided with Numair, who apparently had faster reflexes than the stranger, grasped her arms to prevent her from colliding or falling over.

She blinked, "Good morning Mr. Salmalin."

He stared at her.

Then took a step back.

"Mr Salmalin?" Daine queried at the strange look on his face. "Is there something on my face or something?"

"Um, no," Numair said. "You just looked as if… well then. I didn't know you had a boyfriend."

"A boyfriend?" Daine yelped. "No, I am single."

"I am glad to hear that," came a familiar voice behind them.

Daine turned and blurted, "Kaddar?"

Kaddar walked forward and held out his hand, "Good morning Mr Salmalin, I am Kaddar, 4th division project leader. We're supposed to have a meeting this morning."

Numair gave him a slow appraisal, his eyes lingering on Kaddar's stained collar and cheek. His eyes flicked to Daine, then back to Kaddar again. He said in the coldest voice Daine had ever heard, "Get yourself cleaned up. You're an utter disgrace to Tortall Inc."

"Yes sir," Kaddar answered meekly as Numair strode off into his office.

Daine gaped, "I'm sorry, I didn't know he would take a dirty shirt that harshly." She pressed the buttons to reveal the toilet.

"Wow, how do you figure out which remote and button to use," Kaddar mused, impressed at her mini-collection of remote controls and gadgets.

"Ah well, toilet is the absolute first thing I learnt. The rest, well, doesn't really matter," she said distractedly, opening the toilet door. She dragged him inside and winced at his shirt.

"Yeah, I tried, but water doesn't make it come off, it just spreads the stain," Kaddar said. "Tried to wash it off in the toilet, the best I could when it was jammed packed with early morning workers."

"Your cheek," Daine gestured, passing him tissue paper. He turned to the mirror and grimaced, "No wonder he is so angry. I missed that in the toilet with the dim lighting and crowded conditions."

"Numair?" Daine said and blushed. "Thinking that you were out dallying or something?"

"No," Kaddar said, cleaning off the stain with the tissue. "Worse. He thinks I was dallying with you."

"_WITH ME_?" Daine screeched.

Kaddar sighed patiently and turned her towards the mirror. "You look…. like you have been thoroughly kissed." Daine turned a deep shade of red as she saw the hair that looked like a hand had run through it. Her lipstick was smeared and she looked hot and bothered (but it was from running! Not other exertions) with the first few buttons of her dress opened. He waved his arm, "The whole look, plus your unusual lipstick colour is on my shirt and you knew my name…"

"I knew things were going too well," Daine mumbled and quickly tried to repair the damage.

"Pardon?" Kaddar said.

"Ah nothing, just welcome to my life." Daine sighed and thought, '_He can't be that angry right? I mean, even if he really thought I dallied around before coming to work, that's my own private life. Wouldn't affect him one bit since he _IS_ the King of Dalliance. As long as I work hard and explain things, he would return back to normal._'

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

_Conference Room…_

"I told you so," Kaddar mumbled to Daine under her breath when the meeting stopped for a break. Numair had strode out of the room without looking at either at them.

"I'm sorry," Daine said helplessly.

"No worries, I said it was alright." Kaddar patted her hand. "He was professional. Civil."

"Yeah," Daine sighed, "Very _very_ civil and very cold too."

"Anyway," Kaddar said. "My friend is rushing up with a new shirt so I can change during the break."

Daine gazed thoughtfully at Kaddar, thinking '_I better explain to Numair what happened. Maybe he has a no dallying around policy during this period. After all, I don't quite recall him dallying around since I started work, especially since I was told to reject all social calls and Varice is happily away on holiday. It's fine and well if he's only angry at me, but he appears mad at Kaddar as well. Argh! Darn cheap lipstick!_' At least the stain on Kaddar's shirt didn't look like lip marks, it was a splotch of colour on the collar as it had spread with the use of water. She stood up, "I will be back."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

_Onua's Office…_

Alanna stared at Onua over their daily cup of coffee. "I am NOT double-dating both of them. Double-dating implies boyfriends and they are not my boyfriends."

Onua raised an eyebrow, "Well, they want to be. You yourself are not sure whether they are more than friends."

"Ha," Alanna snorted. "Both of them are just flirting around for fun. We're friends-"

"Friends do not kiss one another," Onua interrupted.

"I did not kiss them," Allan protested.

"Yeah, yeah," Onua said. "They kiss you, or at least Jon tried, and George succeeded. They should really exchange pointers. Both are not bad catches really, just choose one."

"Argh!" Alanna said, and busied herself with drinking her coffee.

"You can't run away from it," Onua advised patiently. "You can't stand guys who lead girls on and you are leading them on…"

"No I am not!" Alanna said firmly. "I never _ever_ said I am interested in them nor offered anything that was not platonic."

"Yeah, well, your behaviour is omission. You are not telling them you are not interested, you are not telling them to back off when _their_ behaviour becomes more than just platonic," Onua responded. "You are keeping their hopes up my dear, just by doing nothing."

Alanna hid her red face behind her cup.

"So are you interested in them at all?" Onua asked, kicking Alanna in the leg.

"Oww," Alanna yelped. "Alright alright, I must admit I have slight interest in both of them."

"So, which one interest you more? They are pretty different men you know," Onua said, "So it shouldn't be that much of a problem. Which type do you prefer?"

Alanna sighed and leaned back on her chair. "I don't know… I mean, it's like… high school… Jon is the most popular guy in school, your crush, the one that sends you swooning. Life with him is exciting, fun, full of highs. While George is like your constant guy buddy who has been by your side in high school, he is alright. You feel like, he's home, and you're absolutely feel comfortable with him. But, he is just missing that slightly dangerous edge sort of thing."

Onua grinned, "Just what I thought."

Alanna rolled her eyes, "I mean, Jon is like, the grand love of your life kind of thing which you could dream of when you are young. But, heck, when you grow up, realistically, you know George is a better choice. The kind of guy you build your home with and have forever with. I honestly don't know if Jon is looking at me seriously at all, he changes women like clothes. I'm not that cheerleading queen in high school and severely doubt whether I can sustain his attention for long. I don't like this… pressure I sort of feel when I am with Jon, to be different and interesting from other girls. With George, I'm afraid it'll be bland. Besides, he has to grapple with the whole my income and job is better than him. Guys have such an ego problem over that."

"Well, you got time to think about who you want to bring with you to the charity ball," Onua said in a sing-song voice.

"Ah shuddup," Alanna groaned. "I think I will just go solo. Solves the problem."

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_Conference room..._

Daine opened the conference room and went into a deep blush to see a muscular back. Kaddar turned around and finished removing his shirt. "Ah, my friend came with the new shirt," he gestured at the new shirt on the table.

Daine fought from blushing, he had a drool worthy body. "Well, I explained things to Numair," she said and averted her gaze to out of the window, "so things should be ok I think." She had found Numair in the nearby pantry, sitting thoughtfully in an armchair. He was cold and civil to her, barely looking at her. However, at the end of her story, with her pacing around and gesturing, he had suddenly grabbed her hand when she passed him in her mid-pacing. She lost her balance, and put her hand on his chest to prevent from falling.

Numair looked into her eyes and said, "Don't worry, I believe you." She felt so relieved and smiled. His face was so close to hers… his eyes started to have this dangerous light, then he suddenly pushed her away. She stammered an apology and escaped the room to find Kaddar. Kaddar who was_ distractingly_ topless.

Kaddar grinned, "Are you blushing? That's so cute."

"Mr. Iliniat, you are_ NOT_ paid to flirt," Numair's voice boomed harshly. "_Stop_ harassing _my_ secretary and put on your shirt!"

Daine thought she must have levitated for Kaddar did, and she could not bring herself to look at Numair. Her face was burning red and she quickly took her seat as the others started to file in. A senior scientist apologised profusely for Kaddar's conduct and Numair looked hardly appeased. Daine closed her eyes and barely restrained herself from groaning, '_I soo… want the ground to open up and swallow me now…_'

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL


	13. Chapter 3 Part 3

**BILLIONAIRE SCIENTIST & HIS NEW SECRETARY**

**CHAPTER THREE**

**PART THREE**

_I must say that I am quite impressed that quite a number of readers were able to see the parallel I had taken from the original books and draw certain inferences without me expressly saying it. Well done! Hahaha… For those who didn't catch it, the Numair scolding Kaddar scene had some bits of inspiration from Sarge scolding Farant for flirting with Daine in Wild Magic. Below I have written some comments about the plotlines to clear things up, but may contain some minor spoilers._

_Clarifications without any spoilers: Daine is STILL giving tuition to Alicia Draper. The sham engagement is STILL on, but Numair only told his mother__. Numair STILL doesn't know that Daine had changed Varice's e-mail. _

_Things happen for a reason…as you will eventually see… :)_

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"JEALOUS? Me? Numair Salmalin?" Numair spluttered.

Alanna raised an eyebrow and grinned at him over her cup of coffee. They were tucked away in the corner of DD, taking a breather in between meetings. "You should know by now that the whole building of _Tortall Inc_ is held up by the winds of gossip, the moment it stops, one would think that the whole place would fall down."

Numair put down his espresso shot and folded his arms. "As the internal security at Tortall Inc, you should know that some rumours are _utterly_ baseless. Though this is the first time I ever heard a rumour about me being jealous over my secretary. Enamoured. Lustful. Goggling. But NEVER jealous. I can have my pick of females, there's _no_ need to be jealous."

"Uh huh," Alanna responded, "I didn't say it was a rumour, it was a logical deduction on my part. You don't need to get worked up over it."

"I'm NOT worked up," Numair retorted, drumming his fingers on the table. "And on what sort of evidence are you basing your conclusion on?"

"Your increasing affection and protective gestures towards Daine. It has not gone unnoticed by my all-seeing eye," Alanna replied, grinning.

"Oh reaaallllyyy?"

"You did all but throw a spanking new wardrobe at her."

"Oh come on, you saw what she used to wear, it all but resembled a potato sack. She had to give a good impression for our clients," Numair huffed.

"But Prada? Versace?" Alanna inquired.

"Our highly discerning and wealthy clients," Numair retorted.

"Throwing all sort of food in her way? And if I recalled correctly, you had just ordered for her a roasted turkey breast sandwich with extra cranberry sauce and _no tomatoes_ at the counter. It's like a complete reverse from your former secretaries, they used to buy you meals without your asking, now you're doing it for _her_."

"She's a bag of bones," Numair answered, he started to drum his fingers faster. "Won't have her fainting on the job, not that she's anorexic or anything, but she just doesn't eat enough."

"You all but were growling at Kaddar?" Alanna queried.

"He's no good news for Daine," Numair muttered.

"And when did you start interfering with your secretary's personal lives? You didn't give a damn that one of your previous secretaries was hanging on the arm of the notorious playboy rapper," Alanna replied, smirking.

"Daine's different," Numair mumbled. "She's like a sheep and all the wolves want to have a nibble at her."

'_Like you?_' Alanna thought silently, having noticed Numair's eyes trailing after Daine ever since she put on her new wardrobe. However, she kept her thoughts to herself and said out loud, "Admit it Numair, you have a soft spot for her."

"I'm NOT!" Numair spluttered. "She's a…. friend! Nothing else, f-r-i-e-n-d. I go for blondes! I don't really see Daine as a _w-o-m-a-n_."

"For crying out loud Numair, you gave her your gloves. Your gloves man!!" Alanna insisted. "You positively hate the cold. Yet, yesterday you took off the _very_ pair of gloves you were wearing to give to her to wear when you noticed that she was tucking her hands into her arms." She put her hand over his to still his drumming fingers. "Is it that bad to fall in love?"

"Fall in love?" Numair said, looking absolutely stunned as if Alanna had just told him that the moon was made of cheese.

"Hello folks!" a cheerful voice rang out, "Is the food and drinks fine?" Numair and Alanna looked up at the intruder. George sounded friendly, but his eyes were hard as they looked at Numair. Without asking, George slid next to Alanna on the bench and casually laid his arm along the top of the bench behind Alanna.

Alanna looked at George queerly and he said, "Move over, I'm cramped."

"What are you-?"

George bumped Alanna against her hip and she huffed a sigh of exasperation as she obediently shuffled more to the left. She took her hand away from Numair who now looked extremely amused.

Numair grinned as he stood up and leaned over, whispering into Alanna's left ear away from George. "I'm not the only one with jealousy problems." He picked up Alanna's other hand, he brushed his lips against her knuckles and said, "Until later."

"What?!" Alanna yelped and she turned to see George on her right giving Numair a deadly glare.

"So," George said casually when Numair left DD. "How _close_ are you to Numair Salmalin, seducer of woman?"

Alanna sighed. _Men_.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"She's firmly in the friend category. Rooted. Planted. Chained. Cemented. Stuck. In that category," Numair muttered, walking to his office. "What on earth is Alanna talking about with all the, the, _L_ nonsense. Unless she meant it in a sisterly way."

He walked through the double doors towards his room and stopped in his tracks. _Speak of the devil_… Numair gritted his teeth and fought down his raising temper at the sight of a man leaning over his secretary who appeared to be sleeping on her desk. Kaddar's face was _awfully_ near Daine's when Numair barked, "What are you doing?"

Kaddar all but levitated as he jerked to his feet to face Numair. "I am here to pass you the follow up materials based on our last meeting."

Numair could feel his temper raising as he noticed Kaddar's red face – which was no mean feat considering Kaddar's dark complexion. "I didn't ask _why_ you were here, but what are you doing to my secretary?"

"Nothing, just checking she was breathing," Kaddar replied jerkily and nervously. "You know, in case she lost consciousness or suffered a heart attack…"

"At 24?" Numair said quietly, noting that Daine was still sleeping despite the brouhaha.

Instinctively, Kaddar also lowered his voice, "Just in case, one never knows. Nowadays, young people just drop dead all the time."

Numair frowned at his flimsy excuse, but knew that he could find out what Kaddar had been doing. There were security cameras in the room. "Just get back to work."

"Yes sir!" Kaddar nodded and quickly walked out of the room.

Numair stalked over to Daine's desk and folded his arms, staring down at her. "You are a _girl_. You should know better than to let down your guard. Do you hear me? Serves you right if Kaddar took advantage of you while you were sleeping." He said softly, not really expecting her to listen to his admonishments. Normally, he would clear his throat loudly or make some noise to wake up the sleeping personnel, but he found that he could not quite bear to do so. She had looked quite run down and tired lately. Stressed, like something was bothering her. He could not quite imagine _what _could be burdening her to such a degree of exhaustion.

It could NOT possibly be the working hours or workload. When he first noticed her weariness, he discreetly told Shalene to inform Daine oh-so-casually that during this period where Numair was busy inventing, she could come at 10am and leave at 4pm because he would not need her assistance as he would be in his own little world. It was the lull before the storm. When the product is about to be launched, she would then have her hands full. Till then, she could take it easy. Shalene had taken his new policy for his secretary into her stride and just smiled when he had instructed her. Suspiciously, she took it _too_ easily and did not act the least surprised at his words. (He hoped like hell that Alanna didn't find this out after her recent conversation with him – which is why he pulled in Shalene to help, rather than Evin.) Of course, like the new wardrobe, Shalene had to pretend that it was a long implemented policy. Not something provoked by Daine's recent haggard appearance.

He scrutinized her silently. Her right cheek rested on her arm and chestnut curls that were free from her bun tumbled down her neck and face. Unbidden, his right hand automatically reached out to stroke the hair away from her face. Her spectacles were still haphazardly on her face. He frowned at her side profile – it was not _that_ bad actually. She had surprisingly long eyelashes which most females had to laboriously attempt to artificially achieve with their mascara and eyelash curlers. It was a pity that she looked quite sallow in the light. His hand went to her shoulder, about to shake her awake when he noticed that she had eye bags and dark circles under her eyes. He hesitated and said, "Ms. Sarrasri? Daine?"

She did not stir. He sighed and took the remote control next to her console. He tapped a couple of buttons that caused a bed from the opposite wall to unfold. The double doors he came through swung closed and locked. Any visitor would have to ring the bell. He slid his arms around her and lifted her.

His frown deepened when he realized how light and skinny she was. "You're too skinny," he informed the unconscious Daine. "Light as a bird." He carried her to the bed and gently set her down. "I guess this makes me feel better that I'm going to make you come with me to the Salmalin's annual charity fundraiser. Mother _insisted_ you know, as you're _supposed_ to be my fiancé. At least you'll get some R and R. And I'll be able to keep an eye on you and shove food down your skinny neck. Luckily I bought you a turkey sandwich. God knows what you would eat if I left you alone."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"Argh!" Alicia groaned. "I know I am in the advanced class but these problems are killer!! I swear, that grouch must have swiped the university final years' examination papers and gave it to us." She stretched and rotated her neck, "It's been three hours but we've only covered a few problems!"

"Yeah, I know," Daine grinned wryly and thought, '_It didn't help that I am distracted by yesterday's turn of events. Argh! It's no point wondering how I ended up on a bed in my office. A bed I didn't know_ existed_ till yesterday. I would be more upset by that if not for Numair's bombshell announcement_._ He all but ordered me to his mother's weekend charity function to pose as his fiancé. I should say no, it's not in my job description and I know, well, I _think_ I know he wouldn't hold any grudges if I really turned him down. But he looked so pitiful, reminiscencing about how his mother threw all the eligible ladies at him at every function_.' Deep down inside, she knew she had other reasons – primarily that she was beginning to fall- no, she was beginning to feel more… inclined towards him. Yes, _inclined _and wanted to savour every moment she had with him. She knew that he wouldn't be interested in a girl like her, but still, it would be fun to one day tell her grandchildren all about the dark and handsome Numair Salmalin. Daine grinned, _as if _she would have any grandchildren at the way her love life was going… Her first and only boyfriend had been that backstabbing bastard who…

Daine blinked, realizing someone had asked a question. "Yes?"

"Oh good," Alicia's mother – Vivian Draper said, her hands clasped together. "I'll let Alicia show you a change of clothing." She walked off as Daine turned to Alicia.

"What?"

"Weren't you listening?" Alicia asked, looking excited.

"Er… no," Daine confessed. "I was… distracted… thinking about the problems."

"It's already dinner time and you accepted my mom's invitation to have dinner with us at the club house." Alicia informed Daine primly. "Besides, we need a break from all this physics."

Daine gaped at Alicia. "I shouldn't!"

"But oh, you already did," Alicia grinned in reply. "Don't you remember I always wanted to dress you up? This is the right time to do so! We're going to a swanky club, so it's dresses!!"

"Your physics problems…"

"Oh leave it," Alicia said. "We still have our Monday session before my advanced test on Tuesday."

"Oh dear," Daine murmured. "I just remembered that something cropped up, so I can't come on Monday." She thought hard, _Damn Numair_, _the weekend frolicking around his function will mean I have a pile of work waiting for me to finish on Monday_. "How about this, I will take back the physics problems you have trouble with and pass you a written answer and explanation you can check against. If you have any problems understanding, just give me a call on my mobile."

"Great!" Alicia chirped and clapped her hands, "It's time for Extreme Makeover."

"Umm… yikes!" Daine yelped as Alicia all but dragged her out of the room.

"Come on," Alicia sang. "You are around my size."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Daine blinked at herself in the mirror. It had been a _long_ time since she last dressed up like this.

"I'm a genius!" Alicia whooped. "You look like a model I swear."

A beautiful brunette gazed at Alicia through luminous blue grey eyes that were lined with eye liner and voluminous lashes. Her soft lips painted in red lipstick were a sharp contrast against her flawless skin. Foundation really worked wonders. Alicia had attacked Daine's curls with enthusiasm and managed to reasonably tame them. "You should give me back my spectacles," Daine demanded, but not harshly.

"No, absolutely not, I am not letting you ruin my work of art by putting that butt ugly spectacles on," Alicia protested. "Anyway, you should wear more figure hugging clothes like this dress! You got a good figure, you should flaunt it!" Daine sighed. She was wearing a black bustier dress with a flirty asymmetrical hem that varied in length – from mid-thigh to mid-calf. Thankfully, the skirt of the dress was voluminous and the shortest part was hidden behind the folds of the skirt unless a mischievous wind blew or if Daine moved more vigorously than a sedate walk. The bustier showed a bit of cleavage, no thanks to her more bountiful frame than the endogenous Alicia. She was not wearing a strapless bra, so Alicia unbent enough to lend Daine a long-sleeved shrug to button over the top of the dress – covering the bra straps _and_ the cleavage (thank goodness!). Hence, nobody knew that she was wearing the strapless dress unless she took the shrug off.

"It's time for us to go downstairs and greet the gentlemen!" Vivian declared with a wave of her hand.

"I'll go and get my things," Daine said to Alicia and she slipped off into the study room where they earlier had tuition lessons.

As she walked away, she heard Alicia's father (Adam) say, "My brother is joining us today for dinner. We're going to discuss how much we want to donate to our mother's annual cause this year. Heard it's concerning destitute elderly."

"Where is Uncle Arram?" Alicia asked excitedly. "I can't wait to show him my project for _Odyssey of the Mind_."

"He came when you ladies were dressing up and was finishing up some work in the Study Room. He's in the rest room at the moment. Oh a peculiar coincidence, when I mentioned Daine was joining us for dinner, he mentioned it was the same name as his-" Richard replied.

Daine walked out of hearing and she slipped into the study room and closed the door. She surveyed the room and found that the mysterious Uncle Arram had scattered his papers haphazardly around the room. She picked up a pile of papers that she thought was Alicia's advanced science problems and started to pack her bag.

Daine grabbed her bag and was about to walk to the door when she heard Alicia squeal in excitement, "You gotta see this!"

The door opened and Alicia bounced in. Daine gaped as Numair Salmalin filled the doorway with his tall muscular build.

"Now what do we have here?" Numair all but purred. He stalked towards Daine and gently stroked her under her chin. "No need to gape at me, I know my two horns from my head are rather distracting."

"That is such a bad pick-up line," Alicia giggled. "See Daine, after getting you out of those frumpy clothes and wretched black glasses, you are having men fall all over you."

"DAINE?" Numair screeched. It was his turn to gape.

"Why yes," Alicia replied, shocked at his reaction. "Veralidaine Sarrasri."

"I really should go," Daine muttered and tried to make her way around Numair when he suddenly grabbed her bag.

"Hey!" Daine protested. "Give it back to me!"

Numair ignored her and took advantage of his superior height to hold her bag out of her grasp. He dug around her bag and fished out her wallet. He opened her wallet to see her driving license.

Daine folded her arms when it became clear that her attempts to regain her possession were futile and glared at him, "Are you satisfied yet? Give me back my bag."

"I can't believe it," Numair muttered. "I must be growing old and senile not to spot all this _potential_ under your hideous glasses."

Daine rolled her eyes, "They are meant to let you see, not make a fashion statement." Inwardly, she was pleased at his reaction, but suppressed the small voice that warned her that it was dangerous for more people to know how she really looked like…

"Arram?" Emily called. "The limo is waiting."

Numair frowned as he discovered Daine's palm top in her bag. "You are_ not_ supposed to bring this home you know. The palm top contains some mechanisms that are pending patenting, it won't do if the wrong hands get hold of it."

"Alright, boss, I get it," Daine huffed. "Mustn't let your precious technology get lost."

"Mom's calling us," Alicia said. "We should go, the reservations is at seven."

Alicia flounced triumphantly out of the door, pleased with her uncle's reaction. When Daine made to follow, Numair slid his arm around her waist and hauled her against him.

Daine looked up at him, with his face very close to hers as he looked deeply into her eyes. "What I'm more concerned with," he punctuated this by shaking her gently. "If competitors find out you have your hands on the palm top and do something drastic like break into your place or rob you at gun point."

"Uh huh," Daine responded, trying to sound casual. Damn! Why must he smell so good? She could smell his aftershave at such a close proximity.

"I mean it Daine," Numair persisted. "Don't take technology out of the building. Not only is it against your contract, but it's dangerous. I don't want anything to happen to you…" his arm tightened around her waist.

Daine's hearted hammered against her ribs as he leaned closer and whispered into her ear, "…or my inventions." In a more jovial voice, he let her go, walked past her to the table and started to neaten the things on the table, "After all, you can't_ possibly_ compensate me for the loss of all my hard work and brilliance. Each product I invent is a work of art."

The moment was broken and Daine desperately tried to get her racing pulse under control. "Now you're beginning to sound like Alicia with all this arty whatever. We better go," She quickly walked out of the room and tried not to run out of the house, not seeing Numair's red face+.

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_+For readers who didn't perceive this in the scene above, Numair was quite affected by his close proximity to Daine and had purposely hid his face from her by walking towards the table. He was blushing…. Awww….._

_**NOTE ABOUT PLOT (MAY CONTAIN MINOR SPOILERS)**_

_It has been some time since I wrote some of the parts, but I have not forgotten about certain incidents. They happen for a reason and will come back again eventually. Or at least I intend for them to come back unless I have restrain of time and space. _

_I must admit there were certain plotlines I was preparing for, but realized it maybe too messy to carry on. Like, I originally wanted to put in the POTS bunch where they will be helping Alanna and Raoul out in security. But I think I better concentrate on the main story due to restraint of time. Perhaps in the distant future if I ever edit this fic, I might just throw it in, but at the moment, I'm leaving them out._

_I also wanted to write more about Alanna/George/Jon, rather than to have the characters recap of what happened. But I realized that I wanted to better concentrate on the main focus of Daine/Numair and leave Alanna/George/Jon to the sidelines. So I'm afraid that's why I "forwarded" their status of their relationship without going through the actual notions of a blow-by-blow account of what happened._

_As some may probably already know, I originally intended for Daine to "pretend" to be Varice and correspond with Numair. So we have this bittersweet sort of thing going on and Daine and Numair slowly falling for each other. Of course leaving readers to guess whether Numair knows who he is actually corresponding with. But upon reflection, I realize that there was too much things going on (or things I plan to go on), so I took out that idea and wrote it as _**E-mail Exchange**_. That fic can be found on the blog on my profile page. I wanted to upload it on but can't take the formatting. When I have more time some day, perhaps I will edit it to fit the formatting. Apparently they don't like e-mail addresses which unfortunately takes away a bit of the suspense element. _

_BUT despite not having this plotline of Daine "pretending" to be Varice and correspond with Numair, there is still significance in Daine's actions in editing the e-mail. As you will see eventually, Newton's third law will hold true – for every action, there's a reaction…_

_Thanks for reading!_


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